The Ashrak Malice
by Neuropsych
Summary: It's Shawn's birthday, but not everyone wants to blow out candles - Rated T for language and violence
1. Chapter 1

**The Ashrak Malice**

_Author's note: So! My little break from writing is over and now we come back to the Camper's universe for another visit. I won't go into what the story is about since those of you who have been along for the Campers ride already know who the Ashrak are after. All others should read at least a few of my Campers stories before taking this one on, since it has several characters that I've made up. That said, here we go!_

_Disclaimer: I'm not making any money off this story. It's for amusement only and I don't own Stargate or any characters I use that I didn't make up._

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

Ian Brooks scowled.

"Are you done?"

His scowl was no match for that of Rodney McKay, who didn't even bother to look up from what he was doing.

"This is a delicate procedure, okay?"

"It's not rocket science."

Now McKay did look up, although his hands stayed where they were.

"Do _you _want to do this?"

"I-"

"I'm almost done, okay," McKay interrupted. "Hand me that wipe."

Ian reached over and handed the requested item over to the man who was almost certainly the most brilliant man on Atlantis, and a moment later handed McKay a can of powder without being asked. A moment later Rodney stepped back.

"Done."

"Hand him here and I'll get him dressed. You make sure the twins are ready, will you?"

McKay handed Ian his youngest son, who gurgled happily now that his diaper had been changed, and Ian grinned at the baby wondering again where in the world he'd managed to get such vivid blue eyes and brilliantly red hair. Definitely not from his _father_, that much was certain. Ian's dark eyes were soft and his hands were deft as he dressed the squirming Alexander in the outfit Cassandra had picked out before she'd gated back to Earth the day before.

"You ready, big boy?" he asked, holding the baby up so he could look him eye to eye.

At only 8 months, Alexander wasn't quite up to a conversation – even for his daddy – but he did smile at the affection in Ian's tone, and that was more than enough.

"Hey, loser, are you ready?"

Ian looked over at River, who had entered his quarters without asking – since he knew that Cassie wasn't on Atlantis just then. Nestled comfortably in his left arm was Jessica, dressed in pink – but wearing a shirt that had a surfer on the front.

"Just about. We're waiting on Rodney and the boys, then we'll-"

He was interrupted by Carter and Michael, who ran into the room excitedly. Of course, they were always excited – and more so when they were getting ready to visit Earth, and their grandparents.

"We're ready!" Carter told him – loudly.

"Can I carry Zander?" Michael asked, hopefully.

Ian rolled his eyes at the nickname the boys had given their little brother, but didn't comment on it.

"You'll be careful?"

"I promise."

Without hesitation, he handed the baby over, knowing that Michael would be more protective of him than even _Ian _could be. And Carter would help him if he needed anything while they were walking to the Gateship bay.

McKay joined them only a moment later, carrying the bag that was filled with the twins' clothes for their visit to Earth, and Ian scooped up the diaper bag.

"You ready?" he asked River.

"We're loaded already," the Californian answered with a grin. "Jessica wanted to bring half her wardrobe, but I reminded her that if we use all our space going out, we wouldn't have room for anything new that we might pick up in the mall – _or _at grandma and grandpa's."

"And she saw things your way finally?" Ian asked, smiling down at the baby in River's arm. Jessica looked nothing like River – which made sense since she wasn't related to him by blood, and wasn't even truly _human_. She was Ancient, and absolutely adorable as far as Ian was concerned. None of them had ever dreamed they'd have an Ancient back on Atlantis, and if someone had told them 8 months ago that River would have adopted one and was raising her as his own they'd have ordered a straight-jacket immediately. They really didn't have any idea what to expect as far as development was concerned, but so far Jessica Hayden was a happy, contented baby – who didn't show any signs of the capabilities she'd almost certainly possess some day.

"Let's say she didn't put up too much of an argument," River told him.

"Don't get used to it," Rodney told him as they headed for the door. "Jeannie started talking at 9 months and never stopped."

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

The Gateship that was officially designated as Gateship 4 was the one they used whenever they took the kids to Earth. The reason for that was simple. While almost all of the Ancients' spacecraft had seat harnesses, none of them came equipped with car seats. Gateship 4 had more seats installed and it held two booster seats for the twins that adapted to any of the seats in the craft, but also carried car seats for the babies. They'd been Carter and Michael's first, but now were for Jessica and Alexander. The section around those particular seats had also been fortified, just in case the worst happened and they crashed, it was the safest place in the craft.

River handed Jessica to McKay as the boys got themselves buckled in, and he did the preflight check on the systems while Ian and McKay settled the babies into their places.

"Get set," River told them as he started the Gateship engines. Ian double-checked the twins to make sure that they were properly buckled in and then sat down in the seat beside the Californian while McKay slid into the one right behind him.

"I'm really not all that fond of parties, you know…"

"Yeah, we know," Ian assured him.

"You don't have to go to the _party_," River pointed out. "But there's no sense in making more than one trip, and since it'll be the weekend there won't be as many people at Stargate command so you'll be able to get the shield back up on-"

"Yes, yes, I know," McKay interrupted. "The sooner the better since they're all too inept to get more than the basics back up."

"I would suggest you don't speak that way to General Hunt," Ian told McKay. "He wouldn't appreciate it."

Of course, Ian didn't really like it, either. _He_ was used to McKay, though, which gave him more patience for the attitude than the commander of the Stargate Command would have in similar circumstance. He was proud of his command and the people under him – and with good reason. It wasn't their fault that a perfect storm of unfortunate events had hit Colorado all at once. An electrical storm had struck Colorado Springs in the middle of a test on the shield that protected the Stargate. While that wouldn't normally have been an issue – they had had electrical storms before, after all – it also happened that the some unknown had dialed into the SGC at the same time. The wormhole had never manifested – according to the eyewitness accounts of those who had been in the embarkation room at the time – but the extra power it caused had done damage to several systems in the mountain. The worst damage had been to the power grid that was responsible for the shielding on the Stargate, leaving them stuck with only the old iris until they had a chance to get an expert in to look at the shield systems.

As the only two real experts on the shield, Rodney and Ian were called in. Which was fine, since Ian had been planning on spending the weekend on Earth anyway. Shawn's birthday was coming and Gina had planned a party. River and Ian – and families – were invited and they'd had every intention of going. Rodney was invited as well, but he was far more interested in the shield than socializing, so he was going to tackle the problems at the SGC while the rest enjoyed spending time with family and friends.

Of course, the twins had immediately gone to their father, concerned that Rodney would miss out on cake and ice cream. Amused, Ian had passed word on to McKay, who had been surprised – and somewhat gratified – by the concern. He'd promised the boys that he'd stop in and have cake.

Since there weren't a lot of Sears and Macy stores in the Pegasus galaxy, Cassandra Brooks had gone to Earth earlier than the others, planning on shopping for presents – which was made even easier when Ian offered to keep the boys with him and bring them in time for the party, leaving her free to have a day with Gina and Janet Fraiser before the weekend.

"I'm not going to," Rodney said, waving his hand dismissively. "But I do expect you to save me some cake."

"We will," Carter assured him.

"Let's go," Ian told River, his hand gripping his armrest just a little tighter than it was a moment ago.

The Californian noticed, but he didn't say anything. Instead, he just grinned and turned his attention completely on what he was doing. If he crashed them, Ian would never let him live it down. Not to mention there were kids in the Gateship, which meant he needed to fly more carefully than he normally did.

A moment later they were in the gateroom and Ian detached his hand from his armrest long enough to dial up the Earth gate.

"Here we go!" River told the boys, who loved to gate almost as much as he did. And certainly didn't share in their father's fear of all things that flew.

A moment later the wormhole engaged, and they went through.


	2. Chapter 2

General Alan Hunt watched from the control room as the Stargate engaged. Feeling a prickle of concern, despite the fact that this was the exact time that Brooks and others were supposed to be coming in. The metal iris that closed on activation of the gate was all that protected his people from all the dangers in the universe that always seemed so hell bent on taking out Earth at every turn.

He looked down at the technician seated at the main computer, but the man had anticipated his look and nodded.

"It's Colonel Brooks' code."

Hunt felt a little less tense.

"Open the iris."

"Yes, sir."

A moment later the small, coffee can shaped ship emerged from the gate, hovered long enough in the embarkation room for the general to see the pilot and copilot of the craft. There was no mistaking either Major Hayden's cheerful wave, or Ian's dark hair.

"Park up top, please, Major," he requested over the intercom – as well as the radio.

"Yes, sir."

The craft rose as the roof opened far above them, and Hunt watched as the gate disengaged and went dead once more.

"I'm going up top."

"Yes, sir."

The technician stayed where he was, knowing that with no shield they had to always have someone in control of the iris. The two Marine guards stayed where they were as well – and for the same reason.

OOOOOOOOOOO

There was an open hangar specially rigged out for the Gateships whenever someone from Atlantis was on the planet. Usually it was Ian. As little as he liked to fly – and everyone knew how much he hated it – a Gateship made for a much faster flight to Washington DC than if he walked through the gate and then caught a military flight. Besides, it also made it a lot easier for him to hide from anyone he didn't want to see – namely the press, who were always more than happy to badger him for an interview when they found out he was around. If not an interview with Ian, then at least pictures of the twins – who were definite favorites of the press. Luckily, the boys were far more cheerful and willing than their father was, and were used to being in the public's eye whenever they were visiting their grandparents in Washington.

The hangar had mesh netting that covered all sides, and the Gateships were always cloaked. Not so much to keep the public from seeing them, but because it was always better to keep any technology hidden from plain sight when they could. It was located against the mountain, about a hundred feet from one of the unofficial openings to the SGC. There was a guardhouse there, which was always manned, and a large grassy field that was mainly used for practicing basic field maneuvers. It was also a very convenient place for the twins to run a little of their energy off as soon as their father released them from the confines of the Gateship.

They were chasing each other in circles, giggling happily, when Hunt walked out of the SGC with a couple of his Marines with him. McKay was also out of the hangar, enjoying – for the moment, at least – the fresh air and greenery that the mountains of Colorado afforded.

Hunt walked over to the hangar, smiling at the sight of the boys being boys and offered his hand to McKay just as Ian and River emerged from the mesh netting that hid the Gateship until they were ready to cloak it, both carrying a baby in one arm and diaper bags in the other.

"Doctor McKay," Hunt said, shaking Rodney's hand. "Are you a sight for sore eyes."

Which wasn't really something Rodney was used to hearing. Slightly discomforted, he forced a smile.

"Thank you."

"How long until you can get me a shield again?"

Now McKay scowled. Figures.

"How about you give me a chance to at least look at it and see what your people did to it? Then I'll have a better idea of what I'll need to do."

"So, what?" Hunt pressed. "A couple of hours?"

"I'll let you know."

Before Hunt could say anything else, Ian and Hayden had joined them, drawing the general's attention from McKay – at least for the moment.

"General Hunt…"

Decked out as they were, and carrying babies, there was no way either man would be able to salute, but Hunt understood that, and really didn't often stand on formality with Ian since he knew it didn't mean much to Brooks.

"Colonel, it's good to see you again. You, too, Major Hayden."

"Thank you, sir." Ian looked toward the mountain base. "Is my wife here, by chance?"

Hunt smiled.

"No, Ian. From what I understand she had a lot of shopping to do. I did issue you a car, though, and I know Shawn's waiting for you guys to meet him at his house. You remember the way, I assume?"

Ian echoed Hunt's smile.

"I think I can find the way, yes. What about-"

They were interrupted by the twins, who came rushing over, breathless, eager to say hi to Hunt, who was imposing to his men, but definitely a favorite of Ian's oldest boys.

"Hi, General Hunt!"

Carter threw himself into Hunt's arms, knowing he'd be caught. Which he was. Hunt scooped him up into his arms just as cheerfully as the boy he was holding. He hugged him for the briefest moment before letting him down and ruffling the other twin's hair, with true affection. Not only did he really like the boys, he liked their parents – as well as their grandparents. The twins had a lot to live up to, but Hunt couldn't wait to see what they would turn out to be.

"Hey, guys. Ready to see grandma?"

"Which one?" Michael asked.

"Both," Ian replied, before Hunt could answer. "Mom's folks are already here, and Granny Mags will be in tonight."

"She doesn't like being called that," Carter chided.

Which made Ian smile. He knew it _very_ well – which was why he called her that when she wasn't there and wouldn't dream of calling her it anytime when she could hear it.

"I know. Don't tell her, okay?"

"Okay."

"Are you going with them, Doctor?" Hunt asked, looking at McKay once more.

"No. I'm going to fix your shield."

Which was exactly what he was hoping to hear. The commanding officer of the SGC smiled.

"Let's go, then." He looked at Ian and River once more. "Tell Shawn I'll be by for cake tomorrow."

McKay gestured toward the hangar.

"And have someone bring me my bag, will you?"

Without looking back, he headed for the entrance, leaving the rest of them standing there watching.


	3. Chapter 3

_Author's note: Yay! I'll be buying my new desktop today, which doesn't exactly guarantee that chapters will come faster, but it will make things easier for me, which means I should be able to do more than I've been able to with just my laptop. Until then, though, thanks for the reviews and here we go with the next chapter._

OOOOOOOOO

"If anyone had told me 8 years ago that you'd be driving a minivan filled with kids, I'd have called him crazy…"

Ian glanced over at River for just a moment before turning his attention back to the road he was driving on. There wasn't a lot of traffic – there rarely was – but you never knew when some douche bag driver might cut you off because he's late for something he probably doesn't need to be doing in the first place.

"I'd have called him a lot worse than that," he agreed. He looked in the mirror at the passengers in the seats behind them and winked when Carter caught his eye, eliciting a smile from the boy. Ian echoed that smile and shook his head. "Besides, a minivan isn't so bad…"

At least it didn't _fly_.

River shrugged. They didn't get a lot of chances to come to Earth, really, and he was enjoying the bustle of Colorado Springs. It wasn't insanely busy, but it was a lot more active than the city of Atlantis. Scientists were all well and good, but River liked being around regular people, too. A lot more than Ian did, for sure.

"It's not a _convertible_…"

"_I_ get the convertible," Michael said, proving that he and Carter were both listening to the conversation. "Daddy said so."

"He said _we_ get it," Carter protested.

Both of them loved to ride in the convertible, which they knew had once belonged to Carter's namesake Sam before she'd given it to their dad. Ian didn't get many chances to drive it – even when he was back on Earth – but he kept it at Shawn's under a car cover when they weren't using it, and Shawn made sure to keep it in good running condition.

"I said you'd _probably_ get it," Ian corrected them. "And only if you proved to be responsible drivers."

The twins both grew silent, and River grinned, because he knew the silence wasn't because they were chastised at the correction. He knew both of them were going back to the conversation they'd had about the car – however long ago that had been – looking for the exact words that had been used. Ian was better at using his memory than the boys were, but it didn't take long before Carter turned his attention back to the conversation at hand, proving he was finished confirming what he'd been told.

"We're going to be responsible drivers," he assured his father. Carter started to agree, but the van turned into a driveway just then, interrupting him.

"We're here," Ian told them, unnecessarily, as he came to a stop beside Shawn's black pickup. The driveway was filled with cars – including the aforementioned convertible under its cover – but there was a space that had obviously been left for them.

The boys waited until Ian had turned the car off – a rule he enforced firmly enough that they knew he was serious about it – and then unbuckled their seatbelts and opened the van door closest to the house. Even as they were doing that, a big black lab rushed to the gate of the white picket fence, barking excitedly and waving her tail as she watched the boys. A moment later the door to the house opened and another black lab rushed out, followed by a small pack of puppies; three black, and three yellow.

River looked over the hood of the van at the gaggle of puppies.

"Jasmine had puppies again?"

She didn't look like she was nursing.

Ian had looked over as well, more interested in the fact that Cassandra Brooks was the one who'd opened the door in the first place. He glanced at the dogs and shook his head.

"The other black one is Recess. Andrew's dog."

River frowned.

"How do you know that? They look exactly the same."

Ian shut the car door and then turned to the other door to pull Alexander out of his car seat while River was doing the same on the other side for Jessica.

"All that time in the sun has made you blind," he told the Californian. "Jasmine is bigger and has longer ears."

"Whatever."

River picked Jessica up, but had barely turned when Shawn was at his side, grinning hugely at the newcomers.

"Let me have her, River," he said, reaching for the baby.

Hayden handed her over, and picked up both of the diaper bags.

"Don't drop her."

"I'd never drop her," Shawn protested, and then pretended to do just that, swooping low with Jessica in his arms. "Oops!"

The baby giggled, not at all afraid of the motion. She was being raised by a motion junkie, after all, and there wasn't a direction she hadn't been in at one point or another.

River hugged Gina, kissing her soundly, and then did the same with the toddler who had emerged from the dog pile at the fence.

"Look how big she's getting," he said, picking Dottie up and blowing a raspberry on her cheek that made her giggle as well.

The newcomers made their way through the dogs and the greetings and a very short time later found themselves inside being offered coffee and other refreshments and waved to chairs. The boys and Dottie went back outside to play in the yard under the guard of Jasmine and the other dogs, and Ian shook his head at the reminder of just how domesticated they'd all become. Shawn and himself were both married with kids, River wasn't married but was totally devoted to Jessica, now, and didn't even flirt as often as he used to – saving those flirting words for his daughter and those females closest to him. The ones that were usually married and not going to seek his attention. Andrew was the only one without wife or kids, but even he had grown up. It wasn't a scene he'd ever have expected to find himself in, but Ian found that it was very comfortable. If not for the fact that what they did was so dangerous most of the time, he'd have called his life settled – maybe even tame.

"Guess who tripped over his dog and broke his arm…?" Shawn said.

Ian frowned.

"Who?"

"Jack – or as the Secret Service like to call him – POTUS."

"You're kidding me," River said.

"Nope. It happened this morning. He tripped over Murray and tried to catch himself but landed wrong and broke his arm."

"It's not serious," Gina told them, smiling. She had taken Jessica from Shawn and was cuddling her with the confidence that only came with having plenty of practice. "He'll be in a cast for a few weeks."

"What about Chelani?" Ian asked. "He shouldn't be in a cast at all. It-"

"Jack tripped in front of a group of diplomats," Shawn interrupted. "Everyone heard the bone break. If Chelani fixes it they're going to wonder how he healed from a broken bone so quickly, so they have to let it go the regular route."

"At least there won't be any complications," Andrew added. "Not with Chelani watching the healing process."

"When are they coming in?" Ian asked.

"Later this afternoon," Cassie told him. "Mom is planning on meeting them at the base. Your mom is coming with them. Your dad will be in tomorrow."

"That's a lot of VIPs for one lowly Colonel's birthday…" River said.

"That's Lowly Colonel _Sir_, Major Hayden" Shawn told him with a scowl.

"Yes, _Sir_, Lowly Colonel _Sir_," River told him, shooting off a salute that ended with an extended finger.

"That's better."

"You guys are pathetic," Ian told them, shaking his head in amusement. Jasmine chose that moment to come over and put her head in his lap, and he rubbed her face and ears more than willingly. "Poor Jasmine, forced to put up with Shawn all the time…"

"You put up with River," Andrew pointed out.

"I can always send him on some mission to get him out of my hair, though," Ian said, still loving up the black lab. "If Jasmine had any sense at all, she'd pack her bags and beg me to take her to Atlantis."

"Because there's _so_ much grass there…" Shawn said, sarcastically.

"One of the reasons we don't have a dog," Cassie said, putting Alex down on a blanket on the floor so the baby could crawl around and check out the new surroundings he found himself in. Jasmine immediately pulled away from Ian's hands and went to sniff the baby, who grabbed a handful of jet black fur and giggled when Jasmine whuffled his face. "Despite constant pressure from the twins."

"And a few scientists," River added.

"You _should_ have some dogs on Atlantis," Shawn told him. "It'd be good for security. And morale."

"There's nothing wrong with the morale on Atlantis," Ian said. "And stepping in dog crap in the hallway isn't something I'd be looking forward to."

"We thought about it," Cassie told them. "But it wouldn't be fair to the dogs. There really isn't any place for them to run – except at the mainland, and that's a fair ways to go to give them exercise."

Andrew shrugged.

"We could probably figure something out…"

"We'll see," Ian said.

Which made Andrew smile. And that made Ian scowl.

"What?"

"You sound just like my dad when he doesn't want to really do something but he wants to change the subject…"

Cassie smiled, but Ian just rolled his eyes.

"Do me a favor, will you? Don't bring that subject up with the boys in earshot. I don't want them harping on me about it until I have a chance to think about it a bit more – and discuss it with some people."

"Sure."


	4. Chapter 4

_Author's Note: So this took a lot longer to get out than I initially planned. Part of it is that I got the new computer, but the other part is that I needed to go back and do a bit of rereading, so I don't trip myself up – or repeat anything that was already done. I'm sorry about making you guys wait. The next shouldn't take nearly so long – although I am going to Seattle this weekend. I should be able to write on the downtime while I'm there. You can also see me on twitter now, too! Sort of. Look in my profile if you want my name to look up._

OOOOOOO

"What do you need, Doctor McKay?" Hunt asked as they walked into the mountain.

"I don't know, yet," Rodney replied, a little annoyed. How was he supposed to know what he _needed _until he knew what was _wrong_? "Probably just a technician capable of understanding what I'm telling him when I tell him to hand me a wrench. Aside from that, I just need a chance to take a look and run some diagnostics and see what happened and what I have to do to fix it."

Not as used to McKay's abrasiveness as those people in Atlantis who worked with him all the time, Hunt couldn't stop from scowling at the implication that his people were all morons in McKay's eyes. They were the best of the best, after all, and he was proud of them. However, he also _really_ wanted his shield to be working, so he bit back the sharp rebuke (which wouldn't have done any good anyway) and nodded.

"Anything else?" he asked, dryly.

"A cup of coffee."

McKay wasn't one for small talk – one of the reasons he and Ian got along so well, really – so the ride in the elevator was completed in silence. McKay didn't have a keycard for the SGC so he was forced to wait impatiently by the first security door for the general to open it, then he led the way into the control room, looking around at the skeleton crew of mostly security people.

"How many teams do you have off-world?" he asked.

"Two," Hunt replied. "Neither due back until well into next week. We recalled everyone else."

"Good."

His work wouldn't be interrupted to allow people in and out. Not that he expected things to take too long, but still… it would have been annoying. He walked over to the computer that controlled the shield as well as the iris and most of the gate functions and waved the technician who was sitting at the console out of the way.

"I need in there."

The tech hesitated for a moment, looking at Hunt and then McKay.

"I need to make sure that the overflow of the-"

"I'll take care of it," Rodney interrupted. "Move."

With an annoyed sigh, the tech moved over, leaving room for McKay to slip into the chair he'd just vacated. He started typing, pulling up the first of the files that he was going to have to check and completely ignoring the slightly awed look the technician was giving him as he watched a true master at work.

"Do you need any help?" he asked, hesitantly.

McKay didn't even look up.

"I need you to bring me a cup of coffee and then not bother me."

Hunt sighed, and waved for the tech to go get a cup of coffee. It wouldn't be long, he told himself. He'd even put up with McKay if that's what it took to make his people safe.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The party wasn't until the next day, but since there were going to be more than just a few people present for it – including the president and vice president of the United States, as well as all of those needed in support of them; Secret Service, the occasional press corps member and traveling staff – there was a lot to be done to prepare for it. A detail of Secret Service agents arrived only an hour or so after Ian and River had arrived with the children. _Their_ job – and one that they took very seriously – was to make sure the area was truly safe. After all, it wasn't just one or the other coming to the party, it was both Jack _and_ Nathan, and that meant that if someone truly wanted to strike at the United States, they had the perfect opportunity.

It was understandable, but still somewhat annoying and a _lot_ inconveniencing. There wasn't really too much to worry about as far as security for the house; between what Shawn knew from his many years working with the Asgard, and what Ian and McKay had brought with them from Atlantis, there were plenty of security devices that would be put into play once things started happening the next day. Not to mention the fact that Chelani himself would be there to keep Jack (and Sam and the children) safe. What he couldn't do Ian, Shawn and the rest would. But the Secret Service didn't know about all of that. All they knew was that keeping POTUS safe was _their_ job, and they weren't going to back down when it came to doing it.

Luckily, even though Ian hated the fact that they were interfering with his rare vacation away from any real responsibility, Cassie was there to keep him from stewing about it. They watched the proceedings for a couple of hours, trying to ignore the fact that they were being treated like they were underfoot and spend some downtime talking about mutual friends. When one of the Secret Service agents made an off-hand comment about having to dodge one of the twins, Ian started to open his mouth to tell him where to put his head, and Cassie put her hand on his shoulder to stop him.

"Let's get out of here," she suggested to them all. "We can't cook." The kitchen was filled with food but it was being prepared for the party by a caterer and her crew, because Shawn refused to allow Gina and his friends to try and handle such a huge amount of preparations themselves. What _had_ started as a little get together birthday party was turning into something insane, as far as he was concerned. "Let's go someplace for lunch."

It would give the Secret Service people a chance to finish their sweeps and security preparations, and keep them from butting heads with Ian.

"Someplace _nice_," Gina said, speaking up before someone – almost certainly River – could suggest a hamburger joint. There would be plenty of time to take the kids to A&W – she knew the twins would beg to go there at least once, and she understood completely – but she wanted to be able to eat someplace they wouldn't have to divide their time between eating and supervising the kids on some playground equipment.

"There's a new Italian place," Andrew suggested. "It's pretty good, and not too fancy that the kids will be scowled at."

Shawn looked at Ian, who shrugged.

"It's _your_ party. You choose."

He liked Italian as much as he liked anything else – although from a parenting standpoint it was a real pain in the ass to clean kids who'd stuck their heads into a plate of spaghetti and he knew it from experience. Of course, it was _just_ as hard to clean them up after tacos or burritos or any number of other different types of food. He was used to it.

"Italian it is," Shawn decided, not waffling about it once Ian had shown he didn't care. He already knew Gina liked the place – they'd eaten there more than once with Andrew and Dottie.

It was even better, then, that it was early in the day, because the place wouldn't be crowded with the dinner set, and they wouldn't have to worry about annoying other people.

The kids were more than willing to leave off playing with the labs in the back yard to go get something to eat – which wasn't a surprise to anyone, really. But Michael had another request, his dark eyes lit with hope as Ian told them they were going to go out to eat.

"Can we take the convertible?"

Carter squeaked with excitement when his brother made the suggestion, and even Dotty turned hopeful eyes to Ian – big giant little girl eyes that he had absolutely no defense against.

Cassie smiled, knowing right away that they were going to get their way, and Ian didn't even scowl as Dotty insinuated herself at his knee, leaning forward eagerly.

"Please, Uncle Ian? Please?"

He smiled.

"You won't fall out?"

She shook her head, serious.

"I _promise_."

"Okay."

The twins squealed with delight, running outside and almost trampling an agent who was coming in at just the wrong time.

"I'll bring Alex with me and Jessica," River offered.

"And I'll ride with _Gina_," Cassie said, smiling. "That way Shawn can ride with Ian and help pick up kids as they tumble out."

Which wouldn't happen of course, but Cassie was enjoying her time with Gina, and this way Shawn and Ian would have a chance to chat for a bit, too. As much as they could with three youngsters in the back seat.

"Sounds good."

Andrew joined River in the van, while Shawn pulled the cover off the convertible and tossed Ian the keys. With the kids in booster seats in the back – Dotty tucked safely between the twins, who promised to keep an eye on her – Ian put the top down and then kissed Cassandra on the cheek as she watched River load Jessica beside Alex.

"Drive safe," she told him, more out of habit than anything.

He grinned, unable to hide completely that he was pleased to have a chance to drive the convertible.

"I promise."


	5. Chapter 5

Hunt managed to stay away for about an hour before he started asking for information about what was wrong with his shield – and more importantly, how to fix it and how long it would take. McKay, being McKay, told him that he'd let him know and tried to leave it at that. Hunt hovered, though, watching over his shoulder. Which had lasted about three minutes before McKay made a huffing noise and turned to look at him, annoyed.

"Every minute you stand there I'm going to add an hour to my estimate." Before Hunt could say anything, he'd interrupted. "It's distracting and _annoying_ and there's no way I can work under these circumstances."

"You've worked under a lot more pressure than this before, Doctor," the General reminded him.

"Well _then_ my life depended on it and _now_ it doesn't," Rodney had told him, stiffly. "I work better under the pressure of a life or death situation – but it still doesn't mean I want you hovering over me." He scowled as Hunt's face reddened and he started to open his mouth to retort. "Don't you have a base to run or something?"

Realizing that he wasn't going to win this one – there wasn't anything he could think of to say that might motivate McKay to go any faster – he'd just turned on his heel and walked away, leaving Rodney to turn back to his work.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"We're _supposed _to be going to the restaurant," Shawn reminded Ian.

"I know."

"We're not going the right direction. I told you it was on-"

"Eighth Street," Ian interrupted. "I know."

"Then why are we going the other direction? Did you forget where Eighth Street was?"

Ian snorted in amusement.

"We're going to stop and get your birthday present."

Shawn looked over at him.

"What?"

"Are you hard of hearing?" Ian told him, amused. "We're going to stop and get your birthday present."

"My birthday isn't until tomorrow."

"Yeah, but then you'll have _lots _of people giving you presents. I do it this way, and I'm the only one that gets you a present today."

"What kind of present?" Shawn asked, curiously. Who was he to complain about getting a present early?

"The _birthday_ kind," Ian answered, evasively.

Shawn looked over his shoulder at the twins – who were both grinning.

"Do you guys know what he got me?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to tell me?"

"No."

"Daddy said if we gave it away he'd skin us and make identical rugs," Carter added.

Shawn glanced at Ian, who was still looking smug.

"Seriously?"

"Yup."

He looked back at the twins.

"You know he didn't mean it, right?" he told them. "Your skins are _way _too thin to make rugs…"

Michael grinned – and when he did he looked just like his father at his most amused, Shawn realized, amused – and shook his head.

"We still can't tell."

"Aww, come on… you can tell me…"

Carter shook his head.

"We promised."

"Promised not to tell me?" Shawn asked.

"Right."

"So you tell _Dotty_, and _she_ can tell me."

The little girl giggled, even though she wasn't entirely sure what was so funny, and Carter and Michael shook their heads at the same time.

"No."

Shawn groaned in mock agony, which didn't make the twins – or _Ian_ – even feel guilty.

"You'll find out soon enough," Ian said. "Just enjoy the suspense…"

Which only earned him a scowl. Of course, that didn't bother the New Yorker a bit. He just snickered and turned his attention back to the road.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"This is _nuts_…"

The technician who had been seated near at hand in case McKay needed anything – which he hadn't thus far – looked over, uncertain if the comment warranted a response. The abrasive scientist had turned to him, looking at him with a look that was crossed between annoyed and curious. Curious enough that the tech spoke up.

"What is?"

"When the shield went down did the gate power up?"

"I don't know."

McKay scowled.

"Check the logs."

The technician frowned, but he rolled his chair over to one of the secondary system computers and brought up the system logs that McKay wanted.

"Yes," he finally reported. "But only for a moment. It didn't try to dial, it just had a power surge."

McKay stood up and went over to look over his shoulder.

"It's not what happened, though…" he muttered, frowning. "This is bad. Very bad."

"What do you mean?"

Rodney went back over to the shield computer, tapping a few more keys and bringing up another set of displays.

"The gate didn't have a power surge. Someone used it as a conductor…"

"What?"

"They brought the shield down on purpose – and used the gate to do it."

"Who?"

"The who isn't nearly as important as the how or the why," McKay answered, absently, as he turned his attention completely back on the computer. "Or how to undo it."

"Undo what?" The tech asked, completely confused.

"They broke into the shield," Rodney murmured, more to himself than as a reply. "How could they have done that? No one has the knowledge…"

"What?"

McKay turned, his expression stunned and his face even more pale than was normal for him.

"I need to get hold of Ian."


	6. Chapter 6

The five of them stood in a small group, staring at the display in front of them. At least Shawn and Ian were. Dotty and the twins were watching the cartoon that was showing on every screen they could see.

"No way."

"Yup."

"I can't."

"Sure you can."

"It's too much. _Really_."

Ian scowled at his friend and then gestured to the flat screen and plasma screen TVs that ran the entire length of the wall.

"Pick one. And _not_ the littlest and cheapest or I'll kick your ass."

Shawn shook his head, amused.

"Dotty will protect me. Won't you sweetheart?"

The little girl giggled.

"She agrees with me that you need a new TV for your 'man cave'."

Which was actually a den more than anything, but since _Ian _didn't have a place for a man cave, he always teased Shawn about having one instead.

"You're sure?"

Ian nodded.

"Cassandra and I talked it over and it was the only thing we could think of to get you."

"Well, thank you. I'll make sure to-"

He was interrupted by Ian's cell phone. The New Yorker scowled – this time really meaning it – and looked at the number.

"It's McKay. He probably ran out of candy bars or something. Go pick out your TV…"

Shawn watched as he turned away to avoid bothering the salesman and Shawn, but saw his shoulders tense almost immediately, and he was close enough that he could easily hear Ian's end of the conversation. McKay was talking loud enough that he could just hear that side, too.

"Brooks."

"_I need you down here,"_ Rodney told him without preamble. "_Now_."

"Why?"

"_Something is weird, and I want you to confirm what I found."_

"What?"

McKay's voice was impatient – something that Ian was used to more than anyone else. It amazed Shawn that his friend wasn't still scowling at being spoken to so abruptly.

"_I'll explain it when you get here. Hurry. Please."_

The last wasn't really a plea for help as much as it was an annoyed concession that maybe he wasn't being as nice as he could be. Ian sighed, looked at Shawn and then the kids, and shrugged.

"All right. We'll be right there."

McKay hung up without further conversation, and Ian closed his phone.

"Problems?" Shawn asked.

"Who knows? McKay panics sometimes, but he definitely sounds worried. You mind if we stop there before we go to the restaurant?"

"Not at all."

Ian looked at the salesman.

"Find the biggest TV you have and save it for us. We'll be back in a while to pick it up."

"Yes, sir."

Shawn looked at the kids, who were watching them now instead of the cartoon.

"We need to stop and see Rodney, okay?"

The twins nodded, grinning. They _liked _Rodney! Each boy took one of Dotty's hands and they all headed back outside to the car. As Shawn made sure they were buckled in, Ian called Cassie to let her know that they were stopping at the base to talk to Rodney, but they'd be done soon and would meet them at the restaurant. She grumbled good-naturedly but she knew they wouldn't be stopping if someone didn't think it was important. He hung up the phone and started the car.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"What are you telling me, Doctor?" Hunt asked.

McKay made an annoyed face – more annoyed at himself than at Hunt's question – and finally settled for a shrug.

"That's just it. I'm not _sure_. Not yet. I just know that your shield being down doesn't look like the work of any electrical storm."

"It wasn't just the storm," Hunt reminded him, sitting down on the edge of his desk since McKay had refused to seat himself in one of the chairs when he'd walked in with the technician close behind. "There was also a-"

"I know," Rodney interrupted. "But that's not all the log shows here."

"What else does it show?"

"I'm not sure. It's not something I've seen before."

"Then how-"

"Look, I've already called Ian back here to see if he can help me figure it out. Once we do, we'll be able to tell you more. Until then all I'd be doing is guessing and I don't want to do that until I know my guess is right."

Hunt looked over at the technician – who also happened to be one of the smartest guys on the base. The man interpreted the look as a question, and shrugged.

"I've never seen it, either, general. Whatever it is, it's definitely odd."

"Is the base compromised?" Hunt asked.

"I doubt it," Rodney said. "If there were some kind of crazy aliens running around somehow cloaked and managing to hide from your security people as well as all the other personnel, you'd think they'd have done something by now, wouldn't you? The shield's been down for a couple of days, after all."

Again Hunt looked at the technician, and again the man shrugged – although he also nodded.

"I agree. We're compromised in the fact that we can't automatically scan everything coming through the gate without the shield program, but I don't think there are any invisible aliens here, either. The-"

Hunt's phone rang, and he picked it up, still looking at the two scientists in front of him. He listened for a moment, and then hung up.

"Colonel Brooks just checked in up top."

"That was quick," McKay murmured.

"Just figure out what's going on with my shield, doctor."

McKay nodded and headed out the door, technician trailing behind.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Despite the sparseness of the personnel on the base for the weekend, there was still a full sized security force guarding the various levels of the SGC. As well known as Ian and Shawn were, however, it didn't take them long – even with the twins and Dotty in tow – to get through all the checkpoints. When the elevator opened at the last level he was surprised to see that McKay was waiting for them in the corridor.

"What are you doing here?" Rodney asked Shawn, clearly startled to see him.

Shawn scowled. He didn't much care for McKay – although the twins had both rushed him immediately, obviously happy to see him despite the fact that it hadn't been that long since they'd arrived with him.

"We were on our way to dinner."

Rodney looked over at Ian.

"Really? Where?"

"What's going on, Rodney?" Ian asked.

"You've got to see this odd imprint in the file," McKay told him, switching gears immediately and handing the laptop he'd been carrying over to the New Yorker. "I've never seen it before – and I thought I'd seen everything at least once…"

"What is it?"

"I don't know…"

They started walking towards the command room, one twin on either side of McKay, Shawn holding Dotty's hand since the boys were too distracted to, and Ian looking down at the laptop as they walked.

"That's…"

Ian trailed off, stopping in mid stride, and suddenly looking over his shoulder.

"What-"

Before McKay could even finish the question, Ian's expression went from curious to alarmed.

_"Watch out!"_

He dropped the laptop and slammed into Carter, the momentum knocking McKay into Michael and taking all of them down in a heap, with Ian covering them as well as he could. Shawn had reacted almost as quickly, pulling Dotty down to the floor and then covering her little body with his own.

The technician turned, confused.

"What-"

Twin bolts of energy suddenly appeared out of nowhere, one striking the wall right by where Shawn had been standing, and the other slamming into the technician, knocking him violently into the wall, where he seemed to hang forever until he crumpled into a lifeless heap.


	7. Chapter 7

"_Move!"_

At the same time he shouted, Ian was already pushing Carter into the closest doorway, pushing at McKay at the same time, who reacted by shoving Michael forward as well. The protection was scant, but Shawn was already pushing Dotty the same direction, shoving the stunned little girl in on top of Michael and lurching to his feet to slap the door control. It activated immediately and the door swooshed open smoothly, revealing a corridor.

"Go, McKay!" Shawn told him, pushing him through after the kids, and turning to check on Ian, who had scrambled over to the fallen technician. With one hand the New Yorker grabbed his lab jacket collar, jerked to his feet and dragged the man into the doorway just as a bolt of energy shot into the wall by Shawn's head, followed almost immediately by another.

Shawn slapped the door closed and turned toward McKay and the kids, but before he could say anything Rodney brushed by him, pulling out the control for the door and fiddling with the wires.

"I can jam it," he said, to them. "But it won't hold them back long…"

"Is he dead?" Carter asked in a very small and frightened voice, looking down at the technician's inert body, where his father was quickly checking him for signs of life.

Ian looked up at him, but before he could answer a loud crash from the other side of the door made the boy flinch, and Ian stood up, looking around.

"We need to move."

"General Hunt will-"

"Michael? You and Carter are in charge of Dotty."

The twins both nodded. They were scared but certain that their daddy wasn't going to let anything happen to them – _or_ to Dotty.

"Make sure you stay right in front of us," Shawn ordered them as he and Ian hauled the technician up and supported him between them. The man gave a stifled groan, proving to them that the weapon used on him wasn't set to kill – a relief of sorts, but one that didn't mean much. "Follow Rodney."

"Yes," McKay said, looking over his shoulder and wishing he had something a little more comforting to say. He couldn't think of anything, though. All he could think of was that they needed to find a caller and warn Hunt that something was shooting at them – and then get the hell out of the way so the Marines could do their job. "This way."

He knew the base as well as any of them, and the corridor they were in was a lucky happenstance, because it wasn't that far from what he needed.

"There's a base alarm just down the hall," Shawn told him.

"I know," McKay told him, shortly. "Tell me you have a gun."

"Yeah, we take them to Best Buy all the time, Rodney," Ian said, using his free hand to push Michael gently in the back when the boy lagged a little as they walked. "The alert-"

"I _know_!"

Another loud crash came from the door behind them, and Dotty screamed and would have stopped if the twins hadn't kept hold of her and kept her moving by force alone. Not that they weren't scared, because both of them glanced over their shoulders, first at the door and then at Ian, who schooled his features immediately so they wouldn't see his concern.

"Any idea who – or what – it is?" McKay asked, stopping and slapping another panel, causing the door beside them to open – revealing another corridor. This one with an alarm on the wall only a few feet away – and more importantly a phone as well.

"Yeah."

Ian didn't elaborate and knew Shawn didn't need him to. McKay held his hand up to stop the kids, and poked his head into the door, afraid that someone was going to shoot at him as soon as he showed himself. When it didn't happen, he ushered the kids into the hallway, pushing them against the wall where a metal girder emerged at the doorway, giving them a small place to hide that gave protection on all sides but one. That one was protected by Ian and Shawn, who leaned the technician against the wall where he managed to stand there unaided while Ian reached for the phone and Shawn hit the alarm on the wall.

Immediately alarms went off all around them, lights dimming in the corridor they were in as well as others in the area. Ian grabbed the phone on the wall, while McKay jammed the door by them.

"This is Brooks. Seal the base."

McKay looked over at him, startled.

"What? No. We need-"

"They can't be allowed out of the mountain," Shawn interrupted as Ian started telling whoever was on the other end of the phone line what was going on.

"That means we don't get any help in here, either."

"We'll be fine." Cutting off any further conversation, Shawn turned to the kids. "You guys okay?"

They all looked up at him, scared, but they nodded. Before they could say anything, Ian hung up the phone and turned his attention to them as well.

"We need to get them out of here. They sealed the gate – the iris is still working, but the shield is down. And-"

"Now we know _why_," McKay interrupted. "This had to have been planned out. Whoever they are, they-"

"Ashrak," Shawn interrupted. "It's almost exactly like the last time."

Ian didn't reply to that, because Shawn wasn't really correct. The last time he'd been frightened because he hadn't known what was going on. Now he was an adult. With a lot more training and confidence in his abilities. He wasn't afraid for himself, but rather for the children who were looking to him and the others to keep them safe. And _that _made it a lot different than the last time.

"We need to move," Ian told them. "If they've been on the base since the shield went down they've had plenty of time to learn the area. Hunt will seal the gate room, and the majority of the Marines will need to protect the command center to stop any further incursion. We're going to head to the armory."

"Wait a minute," McKay said, holding up his hand. "Why not go to the command center? It's got to be safer… for the kids, I mean."

"Because if the objection is to take over the SGC, the first room they try to take will be the command center," Ian told him. "The armory is the most heavily fortified room aside from the gate room and the command center; it'll be the safest for the kids."

"And we'll be able to pickup some weapons," Shawn added.

"Right." Ian looked at the technician, who was starting to look a bit steadier. "Can you walk?"

"Yeah."

"Let's go then."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is going to be great."

Jack smiled at his wife, glad to see that she was so excited about their upcoming visit. She'd been so busy lately that he'd thought he was going to have to pry her away from Washington to get her to come, but it hadn't been difficult at all.

"I can't believe he's already 30…"

"I know. Nothing makes you feel older than a child's birthday."

Suddenly Murray scrambled by, obviously carrying something in his mouth – a doll if the leg sticking out from the side was anything to judge by – and Nia right behind him screeching for him to stop and give Molly back.

Sam smiled.

"And nothing makes you younger than trying to keep up with them…"

Jack nodded his agreement, and pushed himself out of the fine leather chair he'd been sitting in for the flight. There was definitely something to be said for being the President, he had decided, when you could fly home to visit family in such luxury. However, Murray was his responsibility, and while any of the presidential aides would be willing to try to pry the doll from his jaws, Jack knew that he'd be able to get her back with minimal chew marks.

"I'll be right back."

"Take your time…"

Sam leaned back and closed her eyes, looking forward to some down time with a lot of little ones running around.


	8. Chapter 8

Hunt looked down at the embarkation room below him. The security personnel looked calm, but were definitely on guard. Weapons were all ready, heads were turning as the men and women charged with base security looked all over for whatever threat may come from the gate – or from the doors that led to the rest of the base. The few technicians who had been in the area were already being escorted to secured rooms, where they would wait until the all clear was given.

"Report."

The Marine that was standing beside him stiffened immediately. He had been the one to talk to Brooks on the phone and was also the most senior of the Marines that were in the embarkation and command center areas.

"Colonel Brooks was attacked by one – and probably more – of the intruders. He suggested-"

"He's not certain how many?"

That wasn't like Ian at all, Hunt knew.

"They're invisible, General."

Hunt frowned, immediately taking in the ramifications of that statement. For all he knew, his base could be teeming with them. There could even be some in the room with him right now. Unlikely, since he wasn't being shot at, but it was possible. He couldn't help but look around, and the Marine knew what he was thinking and spoke up again.

"Colonel Brooks suggested you activate the Guardian, Sir."

Actually, he'd _ordered_ it, but a colonel didn't tell a general what to do and the Sergeant knew it. Better to paraphrase than get Hunt in a snit over chain of command.

Hunt scowled.

"What the hell is that?"

"The Guardian, General?"

"Yes, Sergeant. What are you _talking _about?"

"You don't-" the man interrupted himself. Obviously no one had told Hunt about the program when he'd taken over the SGC. "It's a program for base defense, General. If I may?"

He gestured to the computer, and Hunt nodded, watching with interest while the Sergeant typed in a quick command.

"I don't know all the details of it," the Sergeant explained. "You'll have to ask Colonel Brooks – or Sam O'Neill. They put it in under General Brooks' watch in order to block any invisibility technology on the base."

A security screen came up on the computer and Hunt frowned again.

"Put in your security code, Sir," the Sergeant told him. "It'll activate the program."

Hunt did as he was told, but he was clearly annoyed at not having this information at hand when it would have been nice to know it.

"What does it do?"

"Beats me. Makes them visible, I guess."

"Did Colonel Brooks give you any indication of who he thinks it is we're looking for?"

The screen changed color and suddenly there was a soft whooping noise coming from several different parts of the command center – as well as the gate room. Before the Sergeant could answer, there were startled shouts from below and both men looked out the blast windows just in time to see the security forces below open fire on a form that had suddenly materialized in the corner of the gate room.

As the form crumpled to the floor, and the men converged on it, the Sergeant nodded.

"Ashrak, Sir. He was pretty sure of it."

OOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Sir?"

Jack O'Neill looked up from Molly, who was a drooled on mess of a doll, but only had one tooth mark as far as he could see. Nia looked up as well, her mournful eyes clearly concerned over her dolly and not at all interested in what the Secret Service agent needed. Murray never turned his cheerful gaze from the doll in Jack's hand.

"What's up?" Jack asked, instantly alerted by the serious expression on the man's face.

"We just received a message from NORAD, sir. General hunt just ordered the SGC sealed."

"What?"

Jack stood up immediately, handing Nia the doll and snapping his fingers to warn Murray that it wasn't something he was allowed to steal again. At least not right now.

"They sealed the base, sir."

"Any idea why?"

"Not yet. We're still going to land at the academy. Hopefully by then we'll have more information for you."

"Thank you."

Jack turned without another word and headed back to the private room he and his family used while they were traveling, and Nia followed, still cooing over her doll, and scolding Murray for stealing her. While Jack turned into the private room, Nia and her brother had their own small play area and she was more interested in that – besides, she knew that Murray would follow her dad, and that would leave her free to play in peace.

Jake was playing video games and barely noticed when his sister returned. He happened to glance up at the door when she came in, however, and noticed more than one Secret Service agent heading for the room his parents were probably in. That piqued his curiosity and his attention, and his character in the game died almost immediately, while Jake tossed the controller aside and headed for the door to see what he might be able to overhear.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

By necessity and good design, the armory wasn't that far from the control area of the SGC. Too far as far as Rodney McKay was concerned – mainly because he felt like he had a giant target on his back – but also because he was really and truly scared. And not completely for himself, which wasn't always the case. Ian's boys were honestly two of his favorite people in the world. He'd known them since they were born and had nurtured their brilliant minds since they'd been old enough to totter around behind him. Not that he allowed Ian – and especially the people that worked under him – to see it, but he felt it all the same, and now they were in danger. The thought that a stray blast might cut short what were going to be brilliant lives filled with who knew what kind of discoveries was enough to make him ill.

He worked furiously after each door they passed to make sure that no one without the same knowledge he had would be able to get through the door behind them, knowing full well that it wasn't going to stop the Ashrak – if that's who it really was – from blasting their way through the doors, but it would slow them down enough for them to get a head start. And when you were as smart as Rodney McKay, all you needed really was a head start. And a bunch of guns would be nice, too.

"Stop, McKay," Ian ordered, right before he opened the final door that would lead them to the corridor that ended at the armory.

"What? We're-"

"Stop."

Ian took point, just as capable as McKay when it came to jimmying a door control, and stuck his head cautiously through the doorway. Nothing happened.

"What are you waiting for?" McKay asked, watching as Shawn pushed the kids once more into the small area that formed at the door to get them as much protection as possible while they waited.

"If you were trying to ambush someone here , what two places would you go?" Ian asked.

"Command center and the armory," Shawn answered.

"Right." Ian looked out, again, and the looked up and around him, scowling. "What the hell is taking them so long?"

"Who?" Carter asked, curiously, despite the fact that he knew his daddy wasn't talking to him.

Suddenly there was a soft whooping noise that seemed to come from all around them, and all three adults looked a little relieved.

"What was that?" Michael asked, looking around, afraid.

"Guardian just went up," Ian told them. "Now we'll have a chance…"


	9. Chapter 9

"What the hell is Guardian?" McKay asked, confused.

"What do you mean?" Ian replied, carefully looking out the door once more. "I told you about Guardian."

"_No_." Rodney looked annoyed – which he was. He hated not knowing everything there was to know, and he was pretty sure he'd never heard anything about anything named Guardian. "I'd have remembered the name, at least."

"It was pretty hush hush," Shawn said, standing guard at the door they'd just come through – although without a weapon there wasn't much he'd be able to do. "For obvious reasons. But I thought-"

"I told you about it, McKay," Ian interrupted, even though he didn't turn his attention from what he was doing. "I even invited you to come and work on it, but you were too busy working with Sheppard on integrating the ZPMs with the Gateship technology and told me to have fun."

McKay scowled, but didn't argue. Not when it came to Ian's memory.

"You still could have told me about it later," he grumbled. "What does it do?"

"Negates all invisible technology that the Ashrak – or any other race of infiltrators might try to use at the SGC. Sam and I decided we'd better take some action just in case we ever had another group of Ashrak try anything stupid." He looked over at the kids, making sure they were still tucked into their little space, and winked to try and erase the fear from their expressions. "Sam called it therapy."

"She would," Shawn said, shaking his head. "See anyone, yet?"

"No." Ian looked at the tech. "Who's base officer of the day?"

"Captain Mathews," the tech told him. "She's probably up with General Hunt by now."

"Or trapped like we are…" McKay grumbled.

"She'll have a weapon," Ian said. "OD is responsible for the armory security in the even of an attack, so she'll be making tracks this way as soon as she can be."

"We can't wait, Ian," Shawn replied. "They're after me, and they're going to come this way. We've got to get the kids safe."

"How do you know they're after you?" Rodney asked, frowning.

"Because they always have been."

"They're going to find themselves at the disadvantage with Guardian running," Ian told him. "Especially if they don't realize it right away. We'll give it-"

An explosion at the door behind them rocked them all a little, making all conversation stop immediately.

"Shit." Shawn pulled Dotty into his arms and hustled Carter and Michael away from the wall. "Is it clear?"

Ian took another quick look out the door and down the corridor that led to the armory. There wasn't anyone there. At least not then.

"McKay? We're going to break for the armory. The door will be sealed, so you're going to have to get it open as quickly as you can."

"Right."

Ian looked down at the boys, who were pressed right against him, now. With Dotty in her dad's arms, they didn't have any responsibility to keep them from being afraid, and they could see that Ian was nervous. Neither of them understood that he was afraid for them, not because of anything that might happen to him. All they could see was that he was hesitating.

"You guys stay right behind me, okay? Unless I tell you otherwise…"

They both nodded.

The New Yorker looked at the others.

"Ready?" When no one said anything, he led the way out the doorway, the sound of another explosion driving them into the hallway a little quicker than they might have gone.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"This is amazing…"

"Yes, Sir."

The sergeant had settled himself in front of the main computer, and the Guardian program was fully engaged on the screen. It showed the entire base in the form of a multi-level map, with blue dots representing those personnel that the base computer recognized as having subcutaneous transmitters. Which meant any personnel that had ever gone on an off-world mission – military mainly. Those blue dots had an index, telling who each one represented. There were white dots as well, and these represented unknown personnel – or people without a transmitter.

"The red dots are our intruders?" Hunt asked.

"Right. Anyone that Guardian recognizes aren't fully human are brought up as red dots," the Sergeant told him. "We have seven left on the base." He gestured to the various spots, and Hunt nodded.

"Which one is Colonel Brooks?"

The sergeant gestured to the three blue dots and the four white ones that were all bunched together.

"They're almost at the armory – looks like they're being chased." He looked up at the general. "With no weapons and three little kids… they don't have a chance.

"Then I suggest you get them some help, Sergeant."

"Yes, sir."

He keyed his radio, his eyes never leaving the screen in front of him.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"Hurry _up_, Rodney…"

"I'm going as fast as I can."

With his eyes locked on the corridor in front of them, Ian couldn't take even a moment to look over McKay's shoulder and see what he was doing. He knew if Rodney said he was doing his best then he was – and knew that _his_ best was pretty much better than almost anyone else's.

"We-"

"Got it!"

Ian heard the door whoosh open behind him, just as he saw two Ashrak come around the corner. The Ashrak saw him as soon as he saw them, and despite his best efforts, their reflexes were faster than his.

"Go!"

Shawn had moved as soon as Rodney yelled, and managed to turn his body and get through the door with Dotty tucked firmly in his arms. The technician stumbled, tripping over Michael, who had been watching McKay, and knocked both of them to the ground. Ian pushed at Carter, trying to usher him into the room behind his brother when he heard the weapon fire and felt a crushing blow against his side that knocked him against Carter, slamming both of them to the floor. He heard his son yelp in pain, and then heard a dozen shots echoing throughout the corridor, so loudly that they had to be right beside him, but he hurt so bad all of the sudden that he couldn't seem to focus on anything just then.

"Come on!" He heard Rodney, but couldn't answer – couldn't even look up. Someone grabbed the back of his shirt and he felt himself moving, but everything went black before he could figure out what was happening.


	10. Chapter 10

"You know… if you're not going to take advantage of how cute she is, you should hand her over and let a real man have a chance…"

River looked up from Jessica and over at Andrew, who was holding his arms out expectantly.

"What?"

"I'm saying, hand over the baby, River."

"Why?"

Andrew scowled and glanced as nonchalantly as he could toward a table that held a small group of young women – all of them pretty, and all of them looking over toward the table that Cassie and Gina were sitting at with Andrew and River. They were either looking at the babies – women loved babies, Andrew had noticed – or admiring River, who was completely oblivious to their attention.

"Because she's adorable."

"I know."

"So do _they_," Andrew told him.

Cassandra chuckled and handed Alexander over to him.

"Here. Use him. Just don't be surprised when he spits up on you."

Andrew didn't look at all concerned. He took Alexander in his arms, smiling down at the baby.

"Hey, big man… what say you and I go get Uncle Andrew a date for tomorrow night, huh?"

Alex responded to the cheerful tone of Andrew's voice with a toothless smile and a chuckle, but before Andrew could come up with a good reason to walk by the women's table, his cell phone rang.

Everyone at the table looked at him when they heard the ring tone, and he didn't have a hand free to stop it.

"_Eye of the Tiger_?" River asked, raising an eyebrow.

With his arms filled with baby, Andrew could only roll his eyes.

"Get that for me Cass, will you?"

She smiled and picked his phone off the table and opened it.

"Hello?"

_"Cassie?"_

She frowned.

"Jack?"

_"Yeah. Where's Andrew?"_

"He's right here."

_"Where's Ian?"_

"He and Shawn went to pick up Shawn's birthday present with the boys, but they had to stop at the base for a minute. Have you already landed?"

_"No. Not yet. What's going on at the base? Do you know?"_

There was an odd tone in his voice that she picked up immediately.

"What do you mean?"

_"The base is sealed."_

"What?"

_"Hunt sealed the base, and we don't know why."_

"Call him and find out."

One didn't just order the President of the United States to do something, but she knew Jack long before he was the President. He would have been amused if the conversation wasn't so serious.

"_The base is locked down, Cass," _Jack repeated. "_We can't call them. Shawn's there, too?"_

"Along with the twins…" now she sounded concerned, and Jack was quick to reassure.

_"There's no place safer than the SGC, Cass, you know that. I'm sure everything's fine."_

OOOOOOOOOOO

Ian came to with a painful start. He tried to sit up, but found himself held down with someone's hand on his chest.

"Stay down for a minute, Colonel…"

He groaned, and looked around as well as he could considering it felt like every nerve was on fire. To his left Shawn was holding the twins, who were watching him with scared looks despite the fact that he could now hear Shawn trying to reassure them that he was going to be okay. Which was enough to make Ian force himself upright despite how badly he hurt. He beckoned for the boys and they rushed over to him, hurtling themselves into his arms, which hurt worse than he'd ever had admitted.

"We were so worried…" Michael murmured into his ear, his cheek pressed tightly against his. Ian could feel the boys trembling, and he hugged them both tightly.

"I'm okay, guys. Are you hurt?"

Shawn answered before either of the boys could.

"Carter broke his wrist, but we've-"

He trailed off when Ian pulled back, took Carter's hand in his. Not the hurt one, but since Shawn knew what he was doing, he knew that it didn't matter where he was holding the boy. Ian's eyes went distant for a moment, but almost immediately he shook his head and blinked.

"Better?" he asked Carter.

The boy looked surprised, but then he moved his wrist a little and nodded.

"Yeah."

"Good. Help me up."

It was Captain Matthews and Shawn who helped him to his feet, and even though he was leaning a little he was at least on his feet – which calmed the boys immensely.

"What do we have, Captain?"

"Guardian's up. We've got one intruder mowed down in the gate room – must have shocked the hell out of him when they out the blue started shooting at him when they hadn't seen him a minute before." She looked pleased at that, and Ian felt a moment of smugness himself. He'd come up with the program, after all – and he really didn't like the Ashrak. "We took out the two that hit you guys, and according to the control room, we have four more running loose on the base."

"And who knows how many might have gotten out…" one of the Marines said, looking concerned, too.

"_They _know," Ian said, looking around and deciding what weapons he wanted to take with him. "We need one alive so we can ask."

"Like they're going to tell…" Matthews snorted, reaching over and grabbing a flak vest for Ian.

"I don't need them to tell," Ian told her. "I just need to get hold of him


	11. Chapter 11

Dotty Adams looked up at her father with huge, scared eyes.

"Don't leave me…"

Shawn knelt down in front of her, aware that everyone was waiting on him, but also that what he said right now was more important than ever. It would define the relationship he had with his daughter, and even if she didn't have the memory that Ian's sons had inherited from their dad, she would still remember how he acted and what he said to her at this moment. Maybe for the rest of her life.

"I'm not leaving you, Honey," he told her, cupping her cheeks carefully in the palms of his hands so she would be forced to look at her. "I'm just going to make sure that everyone is safe. To be able to do that, though, Uncle Ian and I need to make sure that you guys are safe, too, and so we need you to stay here, where we can find you."

A lone tear trickled down her cheek, landing on his hand, but before he could say anything, Carter Brooks walked over to her, his chin up and his dark eyes determined.

"We'll take care of you, Dotty," he promised, taking her hand. "Mike and I can keep you company until they get back."

The little girl cast him a grateful look, especially when Michael joined them and took her other hand, but it was nothing compared to the look Shawn gave them. He kissed her cheek and stood up, and threw another look at the two Marines who were going to be staying and guarding the armory. They straightened and nodded, both running a hand almost unconsciously along the stocks of the P90s they were holding.

"If you need anything, call," Ian ordered them, as he finished buckling on the holster that held the Beretta he was taking. Unlike the others, he didn't have another gun, just the Beretta – and that was only for back up. Ian's weapon was far more deadly, and one that only he could use. He was just lucky that it had been locked in the armory for lack of any better place to put it.

"Yes, Sir," one of the Marines said. "Don't worry; we'll take good care of them."

Ian nodded, looked at his boys once more to judge whether they really were as okay as they sounded, and decided that they were.

"No one in," he said. "I don't care who they are. Not until we get back."

The Marines both nodded again, and Ian left it at that, trusting them to do the job they were given. He looked at McKay, who was carrying a hand-held display in one hand, and had a Beretta in the other. The display was an uplink from Guardian, and would let them know where everyone on base was at any given time. McKay would walk with Ian, who could give him the most protection, since he was more or less a sitting duck without a weapon out. They were good at that arrangement, though, since it was a common one for Atlantis missions. They took point, with Shawn right behind them to provide firepower that they couldn't, and Mathews and the rest of the Marines were bringing up their rear guard. Not that anyone would be able to sneak up on McKay, who would constantly be giving them hand signals to advise if any of the Ashrak were close.

"Your boys are amazing, Ian," Shawn told him.

"They're growing up in a more dangerous place," Ian pointed out. "They're protected and they know it, but they also know that there's always the chance of an incursion, so we drill them and the Athosian kids on that possibility."

"I still owe them for calming Dotty."

Ian shrugged.

"Take them to A&W, that'll do it every time."

Shawn smiled, and they shifted their attention to the situation at hand.

"Where to first?" Ian asked, looking over McKay's shoulder at the Guardian display.

"They're scattered," Rodney replied, scowling at the device in his hand like it was all its fault the Ashrak weren't lining up to be picked off conveniently. "Two on this level, though."

"Which one did you want alive?" Mathews asked.

"Normally I'd say the last one," Ian admitted. "But if something happens and he kills himself rather than be caught, I'd rather not lose the chance to get inside one of their minds."

"First one, then?"

"We'll try for one, yeah."

"Sounds good."

Shawn reached for the radio he was wearing and keyed the mike.

"General Hunt, this is Adams. We're moving."

If the enemy was monitoring the radio frequencies – and there was no reason to think that they weren't – then they wouldn't have figured anything out by that simple statement. But if they knew Shawn's name, then they might come looking for him – which would be good for the little band of hunters.

"Roger, Adams. Good luck. Hunt out."

They headed down the corridor, more to lead anyone away from the armory than anything else just then. The Ashrak on the level they were on were accessible two different directions, so it didn't matter which way they went to find them. Except that McKay suddenly stiffened only about a hundred meters from their starting point.

"Look."

He held up the display so everyone could see it, and one of the Marines frowned.

"What is it?"

"They're moving," McKay said. "All of them."

"Where to?" Ian asked, looking down an intersecting corridor rather than at the display.

"This way."

"They're following us," Shawn told them. He looked back the way they'd come, and decided that they were way too close to the armory for his peace of mind. "Let's get out of here."

Ian shook his head.

"If they're coming to us, I'm not going to risk all of them near the kids without plenty of backup for Harris and Morrell. I say we ambush them right here – just in case they aren't coming for us…"

Ian was a lot more suspicious than Shawn was, and much better at looking for hidden traps in things. Jack had trained Shawn for the most part, and Jack was more of a forward thinker and an attack first guy, while Ian's training had been also in the hands of Bra'tac, who had far more experience with teaching his charges how to look every direction for a trap and only when every possible action an enemy might take had been looked at was a decision to be made on what to do about it. It was the best of both worlds, really, and Shawn knew that he might even be right about what the real target was.

"Let's do it."

OOOOOOOOOO

The moment the plane landed, Jack O'Neill was on his feet and headed for the front. Going that direction, he knew he'd be intercepted by at least one intelligence officer, and he was right.

"What's the situation?" he asked.

The Secret Service agent frowned.

"The details are still pretty scarce, Mr. President. According to NORAD, hunt sealed the base, which also cut off all communication until they contact the outside."

"I know that," Jack snapped. "I put the protocol in place. What have we heard?"

"The one message they've sent is that it's an incursion situation. Ashrak – we don't know how many – and we don't know how long they've been there. They're apparently invisible."

"Yeah, they do that…" Jack looked over at Sam and Jim, who had followed him. "Can we get in there?"

Sam shook her head.

"Not a chance. Not unless someone in the control room cancels the lockdown. Especially with the shielding Ian and I put in."

Jim nodded his agreement.

"The same shielding that keeps the Asgard and other races from coming at will, will also stop us."

"Damn it." Jack scowled, and looked out the window of the airplane as though he could see through the several miles that separated him from the base. "You guys are too smart for our own good sometimes…"

Sam put her hand on his shoulder.

"We'll have to wait, Jack. They'll be fine, though. Ian's in there – and McKay."

"And the kids…"

There was that. Which was more of a concern than the rest, really.

"Call Cassie and Gina and let them know we landed," Sam told the Secret Service agent, who was glad to have something to do. "Have them meet us here."

"Yes, Ma'am."


	12. Chapter 12

It turned out to be almost ridiculously easy. The Ashrak clearly had a way of communicating with each other, because they didn't run haphazardly down to the armory level. They formed two different groups, obviously planning on converging at the same time. The only problem with that was the fact that with Guardian up and running and McKay holding a device that showed the small group waiting for them exactly where they were coming from and how many from each side, they just didn't have a chance. Especially since not only did Ian have access to Ancient technology that none of the Ashrak had ever seen – much less had any _defense_ against – and not only did he have very good reason to hate the Ashrak more than pretty much anything else in the world, but the group was also defending three children who they had absolutely no intention of letting the Ashrak anywhere near.

Ian looked over McKay's shoulder as they watched the display, and Shawn could tell by the way he was standing that there wasn't any immediate threat of the Ashrak coming around the corner.

"What's going on?" he asked.

"We're not the only one laying ambushes," Ian replied, his eyes still on the device in Rodney's hand. Some of our guys just took one of them out."

"Are our guys okay?" Mathews asked.

"Looks like they're all moving again."

"So are the other Ashrak," Rodney said, suddenly sounding tense. Ian nodded, too.

"They must be able to tell when one of their guys goes down."

"They're all moving this way."

"They can only come from two directions," Ian pointed out. "And it looks like they're going to do just that. If they've been here long enough to get an idea of the layout of the place, then they're going to know that, too. The advantage is ours, though, because they don't know that we know they're coming."

"Not to mention you're going to be able to pick them off one at a time as soon as they get into sight," Rodney added.

"That's the plan…" Ian looked over at the Marines who were watching both directions. "Which doesn't mean it'll turn out that easy, so look alive."

They all nodded, and eyes narrowed and guns came up a little more than they had been. They weren't going to be taking any chances – and they never relied on technology over their weapons at any rate. That's why even when the shield was up they all still carried guns.

"Here they come," Rodney hissed, backing into the doorway that Ian had chosen to use for cover.

The Marines had been placed in the perfect position to ambush from both directions, and they raised their guns, half pointed one direction, half toward the other. Ian gestured silently the direction he was going to focus on and Mathews nodded her understanding. They would kill the ones on their side, Ian was going to do his damndest to kill the others and keep one alive – at least long enough to learn something from it.

OOOOOOOOOO

"Where are they?"

The sergeant gestured to the screen, moving just a little so that Hunt could get a better view of what was going on.

"We've taken out a couple of them, and it looks like the rest are heading for the armory."

"Can we get any more help down there?"

Hunt knew that was where Brooks and Adams had left their kids, after all, and there was no way he was going to lose any child on his base.

"They know they're coming." He gestured again, showing the clumping of dots that showed the ambush already set up.

"Brooks has Ancient technology with him. They should be fine – but get some back up to them anyway. Just in case."

"Aye, aye."

OOOOOOOOOOO

The first of the Ashrak went down in a flurry of bullets. The rest of the intruders responded with bolts of energy that slammed into the concrete and steel around them, forcing all of them to cover for a moment. Ian was the first to stick his head out to find a target. A moment later his hand tensed, activating the device in his palm and the Ashrak he was directing it at suddenly seemed to explode, covering the walls and floor – as well as those Ashrak closest to it – with body parts and fluids of all colors.

That caused them all to freeze in shock – not surprisingly – and that gave Ian time enough to find another target, which he wiped out just as gruesomely.

"I thought you wanted one alive?" Shawn asked, surprised.

"I do."

He stuck his head out again, and jerked back as a blast hit the wall right above him.

"Get them!" McKay told him, his voice a couple of octaves higher than normal. He was pressed as far back from the shooting as possible, alternating between watching the screen of the device and the chunks of concrete that were being gouged out of the walls and doorway every time one of the Ashrak weapons fired.

"I'm _working _on it, Rodney…"

He had to see them to kill them, after all, and he didn't really want to stick his head out any more than he needed to. He looked over at the other doorway, where Mathews was, and made a motion with his hand, telling them he needed them to draw some fire. All of them nodded, and a moment later the sound of gunfire echoed through the corridor once more.

As the intruders ducked once more from the gunfire, Ian risked stepping out into the corridor to get a better sight on the group they were shooting at. He only had to see them, after all, they didn't have to be looking at him. He caught them as they were turning, obviously getting ready to turn fire. Instead they went up in a row, one, two, three, all of them exploding from the inside out. He was splattered with pieces of the intruders, but didn't stop. Instead, with the marines already switching their fire to the remaining creature, pinning it, he changed the setting on the device and froze it where it crouched. The Ashrak would have roared with fury, but it suddenly found itself unable to move.

"Got him!" Ian shouted, letting them know they needed to stop shooting.

The gunfire stopped immediately, and McKay stepped out of the doorway, looking at the device and then at the mess in the hall.

"That's the last one."

The creature wasn't moving, and Ian had his first actual look at an Ashrak up close. Nothing too crazy – it looked pretty much human, although it was wearing armor that was closer to something found on a character out of some video game than even anything that he'd ever seen on a Jaffa at their most formal.

With the Marines training their weapons on him Ian stepped closer, Shawn right beside him, his own weapon on the Ashrak as well.

"They're an ugly bunch, huh?" McKay said, just as intrigued as Ian was. He frowned at the goo that was all over Ian, but turned his attention back to the Ashrak. "Now what?"

"_Now _he tells me what they have against Shawn."


	13. Chapter 13

"I don't see any more…"

"Doesn't mean none got off the base," Hunt replied, looking at the single red dot that was surrounded by the dots that represented his people. He could imagine that they all had weapons trained on the last of the intruders, but he couldn't imagine why they hadn't killed him. The Ashrak wasn't going to tell them anything – it probably didn't even speak English, and he was pretty sure none of them spoke whatever language the Ashrak did.

"How are we going to figure that out?"

"We'll cross that bridge once we make sure the base is secure. None of them can return as long as the Guardian program is up – at least not _invisible_. We haven't tracked any ships landing anywhere…"

Which didn't mean that they couldn't, but since one of the first programs that had gone up – long before Ian Brooks had vanished to Atlantis only to return for family visits and infrequent meetings with the President or himself – had been the Multi-spectral shield, and brilliant device that could detect any craft that might fly through the designated airspace that it protected, cloaked or not. Since that airspace had started with a area of Colorado, but was now extended as far as the oceans on either side of the country, Hunt was relatively certain there wasn't a ship anywhere. But that didn't mean there weren't Ashrak _on foot_ running through the area, and that was enough to worry him.

They let the conversation drop, and both men turned their attention to the screen once more.

OOOOOOOOOOO

"He's not going to tell you anything, sir," one of the Marines said.

Since the Ashrak standing in front of them couldn't even move his eyes to look around, he couldn't nod his head to agree with that particular statement. Provided he could understand anything they were saying anyway. Which Ian was pretty sure he could. He had more experience with the Ashrak than anyone there – except Shawn, who had the same amount.

"He doesn't _have_ to tell me anything, Lieutenant." Ian told him, stepping closer to the Ashrak. "That doesn't mean I'm not going to find out."

"What are you going to do, Colonel?" Mathews asked, curiously. She didn't know Brooks well – not many people on the base did – but she'd heard probably a million rumors about him and the Ancient technology he had access to. Whatever the thing was that he'd used to freeze the Ashrak must have something else under its sleeve that was equally impressive, because he didn't look at all nervous to be near the intruder – despite the fact that he was a powerfully built being and still bristling with weapons that were as still as he was.

"Find out how many of them escaped the base – if any – and what their objectives were."

He triggered the other stage of the device he had in his hand, and was suddenly wracked with images that didn't mean anything to him. He went to his knees, unable to concentrate enough to stay on his feet, and heard worried sounds from the people behind him, but couldn't concentrate on them, either.

The mind was alien, as he'd known it would be and had tried to prepare for, but he hadn't truly understood what the word meant until just then. Places he'd never seen, creatures that were only legends or pictures in the Ancients' memory banks on Atlantis, weapons and craft of all sorts inundated his mind in a steady stream that he only barely managed to control enough to make any sense of. He groped for something that he knew – _anything_ – and finally the device he was holding helped him focus on just that. There were images of the SGC, of the other Ashrak and more weapons than even the armory was able to hold. He heard them talking in his mind as they discussed their invasion plan and was shocked that they were speaking Goa'uld and he could understand it without having to try and get the language directly from the memories of the Ashrak prisoner. They understood English, as well, he discovered, as the memories skittered over the past few days that they'd been hiding on the base learning as much as they could about the habits and the ways of the Tau'ri while they waited for their objective to arrive on the base to be eliminated.

Ian jerked away from the contact with the Ashrak, closing the connection as forcefully as slamming a door, and felt a hand on his shoulder, steadying him as he reeled, even in his kneeling position.

"You okay?" Shawn asked.

He nodded, but wasn't ready to stand up just yet. His mind was still reeling and he closed his eyes against a wave of dizziness.

"Kill it."

He heard a single shot above his head, but didn't open his eyes, even as he heard a thud that was clearly the body dropping to the floor in front of him.

"Colonel?"

"I'm all right," Ian told Mathews. "Just give me a minute."

"Do we need the bodies for anything? Should we zat them?"

It would make clean up a lot easier.

"We should keep their technology," Rodney said, suddenly. "And their weapons…"

"No," Ian shook his head. "Clear them out, Captain." He opened his eyes and looked up at McKay. "Are there any left?"

Rodney shook his head, looking down at the detector just to make sure nothing had come up out of nowhere.

"The base is clear."

"None left the base," Ian told him, lurching to his feet. "Call General Hunt and tell him he can lift the lockdown."

"You're sure?" Shawn asked, steadying him when he leaned a little.

"Yeah."

"What did you learn?" McKay asked, as one of the Marines pulled out a zat and fired it three times at the prone body on the floor – and then did the same to what was left of the others.

"Give me a minute to sort through it," Ian replied. "It wasn't like before…"

"We can let the kids out, too," Mathews said.

"Not until Ian gets changed," Shawn disagreed, looking at the various pieces of Ashrak that were drying in Ian's hair and on his clothes.

"Let them out," Ian said. "I'll need a shower, but you guys can reassure them while I do that. I'll meet you up in the briefing room."

Shawn nodded.

"And call Cassie and let her know what happened."

"I will."

"Thanks."

Ian headed one direction, and the others headed for the armory now that they'd cleared as much evidence of the Ashrak off the floor and walls as they could without a cleaning crew to assist.

"Is he going to be all right?" Mathews asked. "We should send someone with him."

"He'll be fine," McKay told her. "Come on; let's get the kids."


	14. Chapter 14

The children and their guards had been close enough to the ambush to be able to hear all the shots that had been fired. Not necessarily from the Ashrak, but P90s make a loud noise – especially in confined areas like the corridors of the SGC and the noise had put all three of them into an ultra heightened nervous state. Dotty immediately ran to Shawn when the group of ambushers walked through the door, and he scooped her up into his arms easily.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he crooned as she sobbed in relief and fear into his shoulder. "They're all gone and you're safe."

"Where's daddy?" Michael asked Rodney as soon as the boy realized his father wasn't one of those returning.

McKay was quick to reassure, no matter how uncomfortable he was in that role.

"He got… dirty… and needed to go take a shower before he came to see you. He wanted me to tell you he's fine and not to be afraid."

McKay ignored Shawn's amused look as both boys clung to him for comfort in the absence of their father, but he hugged them close for a long moment before letting them go and straightening his uniform unconsciously.

"We should call your mother and let her know everything is okay, eh?"

The twins nodded and McKay pulled out his cell phone, knowing that with the lockdown over the cell would get reception without problem. He dialed Cassie's number and wasn't really surprised when she answered immediately. She had to know something was wrong by then, after all.

"Rodney?"

Now he knew she was worried, because she almost never called him that.

"Yeah, it's me."

"What's going on? Jack called me and told me that the entire mountain is locked down and-"

"It was," McKay interrupted. "It's not any more. I-"

"Where's Ian?" She interrupted.

"In the shower."

That brought her up short, and he wasn't really surprised.

"Are the boys okay?"

He looked down at the twins, who were watching him expectantly.

"They're fine. Just a little shook up, I think. Want to talk to them?"

"Please."

He handed his phone down to Michael, but Carter put his ear by the receiver as well, and McKay double checked the Guardian upload – just to make sure – while Mathews radioed Hunt to advise him of their status – as well as get any orders he might have for her.

"Doctor McKay?"

Rodney looked up from what he was doing.

"Yes?"

"General Hunt is asking how long it will be until you get the shield working again."

McKay scowled.

"Tell him I'll get to it as soon as I can. I want to sit in on the briefing and I'm not going to do anything until Ian gets back and can watch-"

"The President is coming to the base for the briefing so that will be put on hold until he gets here."

"How long will that be?"

"He's on his way."

Rodney rolled his eyes.

"Since I don't know where he's coming from, that doesn't tell me anything. An hour? Three? A day?"

Now it was Mathews' turn to scowl.

"He's about 45 minutes out."

"Then the shield will have to wait. I don't want to do anything until Ian has a chance to look at what the Ashrak did to it – I'm pretty sure I know what they did, but he knows the shield program better than I do."

"How long?" Mathews asked.

"I don't know."

McKay turned back to what he was doing, effectively ending the conversation. It was something he was very good at, and very few people would bother to continue a conversation with him when he clearly didn't want to talk to them. It was one of the benefits of having the reputation he had. Of course, there was always an exception to a rule, and a moment later someone tugged on his jacket.

"Rodney?"

He looked down at Carter, who was holding the phone to him.

"Hmm?"

"Mom wants to talk to you."

"Oh. Thank you."

He took the phone, and as soon as he had it to his ear Cassie was already speaking.

"Is Ian really all right?"

He nodded, even though she couldn't see it, and turned away from Carter – although the boy had already been distracted by Shawn and Dotty – so he couldn't hear him.

"He's fine, Cassie. He had to clean up, though, so he didn't freak the boys out."

"He didn't get hurt?"

"No. Well, he _did_ get stunned by one of them, but like I said, he's okay."

There was a slight pause on the other end, as if she was trying to decide if he was lying to her to keep her from panicking, but eventually she must have made up her mind.

"Jack's on his way to the base. We were on our way to the Academy, but now we're on our way there, too."

"I'll let him know."

"Thanks."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack leaned forward, looking out the window.

"We're not going to get there any faster by you doing that," Sam told him, amused, despite the reason they were going to the SGC.

"I know."

"Then stop. You're making everyone antsy."

He sighed, and rubbed Murray's ears when the lab put his head in his lap, obviously looking for comfort or trying to give it.

"I know. I just wish I knew what was going on…"

Sam was glad that the kids had decided to ride in the other car with the rest of the Secret Service detail. They didn't need to see him so worried.

"We'll find out soon." She put her hand on his knee and leaned against him, lightly. "Relax a little. Hunt assured you that Shawn's fine."

Jack scowled.

"I just don't understand what they want with him."

Sam shrugged.

"Maybe Ian found something out this time…"

Jack snorted, torn between amusement and annoyance.

"From what Hunt reported none of them survived long enough to learn anything from them. Guardian worked perfectly."

Which made Sam preen just a little. She'd had a hand in the development of the program, after all.

"As it should."

He smiled, and took her hand, leaning back in the seat and making a point to try and relax a little.

"This should be interesting to hear, anyway."

"Definitely."


	15. Chapter 15

Ian wasn't the only one that needed a shower; he was just the first to get to the locker room. He'd showered and was already changing into a spare change of civilian clothes that he kept in his locker when a small group of Marines walked in, all covered in goo of some sort. Ian correctly assumed this was the squad that had managed to take out the other Ashrak. They confirmed it immediately when he asked them for a brief report while they were stripping out of their soiled uniforms, and they also let him know that POTUS was on his way into the base for a briefing – and he'd brought his kids, wife and Murray.

"They're probably going to be paging you any time, Colonel," one of them told him, his expression making it clear he was glad it wasn't him that would have to try and explain how the base had been infiltrated by a group of hostile aliens.

Ian smiled good-naturedly and shrugged, not at all concerned. Of course, they all knew that he and O'Neill had were close – he was godfather to the two children, after all – so they knew he wasn't going to be on the defensive. Besides, he wasn't in command of the base, he'd just been visiting.

"I'd better beat them to the punch, then," the New Yorker said, standing up from tying his shoes.

"Colonel Brooks, please report to briefing room one… Colonel Brooks, please report to briefing room one…"

One of the Marines chuckled and Ian just shook his head and headed for the door. He'd have to find the boys, first, but then he'd answer the summons.

OOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Daddy!"

The twins found him before he had a chance to go too far looking for them. McKay and Shawn were inspecting a couple of power couplings near the locker room and when he'd emerged the boys had spotted him immediately. They ran over to him – Ian suspected that Shawn and Rodney had no real need to look at the couplings, they just wanted to be close to the locker room for the boys – and Dotty followed, squealing excitedly, even though she didn't know why the twins were so happy.

Ian hugged the boys tightly for a moment, then scooped Dotty up in his arms and turned back to McKay and Shawn.

"Jack's here?"

Shawn nodded, and took Dotty from him so he could hold the twins' hands instead. They still needed the comfort and since Cassandra wasn't there to provide it, he was more than willing to.

"He'll be here within a few minutes, they're paging you prematurely to keep you from taking too long of a shower."

"What did you find out?" Rodney asked without preamble. No big shock there. Rodney had to be burning with curiosity about the Ashrak – and what spurred them into trying to make a move on the SGC.

Ian shrugged, a mirror of the nonchalant expression he'd given the Marines. The last thing he wanted was to let the boys and Dotty hear anything they didn't need to know. Especially the twins, who wouldn't forget what they heard.

"I'll tell you when I tell everyone else. That way I don't have to repeat myself. Do we have time to look at the shield before they get here?"

McKay rolled his eyes.

"If you don't, I think General Hunt's head will pop off."

The twins giggled, and Ian looked down at them.

"You guys want to come help me and Rodney look at the shield?"

They nodded, eagerly, and Shawn shook his head. Ian's boys were going to grow up to be nerds if he let them hang out with geniuses all the time.

"Dotty and I are going to go meet mommy and the others at the gate," he said – mainly to Dotty, who squirmed in his arms, wanting down. "Your mom should be coming, too. Sure you don't want to come with us?"

The boys looked at their father to see if he had a preference on what he wanted to do, but Ian shook his head, smiling.

"Your choice."

"I want to meet mom," Michael said.

"I'll stay with you and Rodney," Carter decided, apparently unwilling to abandon them completely.

"Tell your mother I'll see her soon," Ian told his oldest son. "We're going to diagnose the shield to see what caused it to go down and what we need to repair it. Rodney and I will brief Uncle Jack and then we'll all go to dinner."

Michael nodded.

"We need to get Uncle Shawn's TV, too," Carter reminded him.

Ian smiled.

"And tell her we're going to have to stop and get Uncle Shawn's TV."

Michael nodded and left with Shawn and Dotty, while Ian, McKay and Carter headed for the control room.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Jack O'Neill paused at the door of the control room and couldn't help but grin at what he was looking at. Three pairs of legs stuck out from under the main computer console; two clearly attached to adults and one pair that was clad in jeans and ended with feet stuck in shoes that lit up every time the own moved.

"I need that mainframe encoder, Rodney," he heard Ian's muffled voice say.

"I got it," came the reply – not in McKay's always annoyed sounding voice, but in Carter's higher tenor. A hand reached out from under the console and unerringly grabbed a doohickey off a pile close at hand and immediately vanished under the console once more.

"Thanks."

Jack looked down at Murray, who had stopped at the door with him.

"I don't think they realize we're here…" he murmured to the lab. "You want to let them know?"

Murray wagged his tail, cheerfully, and trotted over to the console. He promptly stuck his nose up the pant leg that was closest to them – which to judge by the slacks that the person in question was wearing had to be McKay's. The leg instantly jerked back in surprise and there was a startled curse from under the console. Murray only wagged his tail harder and this time stuck his nose under the console as well, clearly no longer interested in legs and looking for bigger and better quarry.

"Murray!"

Carter came out from under the console with an agility that only youth could give someone and the lab followed him. The boy hugged the dog and then grinned up at the President of the United States.

"Hi, Jack."

"Hey Carter. Helping your dad?"

"A little."

"Ask him if he understands the meaning of the word _summoned_, will you?"

Carter nodded, but before he could do just that, Ian came out from under the console as well. He grabbed Murray around the neck, hugging the lab as he looked up at Jack as well.

"I know what it means, Jack," Ian told him. "I also know that Hunt would love to be able to secure his base as soon as possible…"

O'Neill smiled, amazed as he always was just how much the boys looked like their dad.

"How's it coming?"

"We're almost done," McKay told him, still under the console. "At least we would be if someone would please hand me the soldering handle…"

Cart reached for the tool requested and with another quick smile at Jack, vanished back under the console with it, while Ian got to his feet and dusted himself off.

"How was the trip?"

"Not as interesting as your welcome here, from what I understand," Jack answered. "Are you okay?"

Ian nodded.

"They got off a lucky shot, is all."

"What did you find out?" POTUS asked. "Anything interesting?"

"Oh yeah. But I'll tell you in the briefing with everyone else…"

The way he said it made it clear to Jack that he was more concerned that certain ears not hear anything at all. And Jack could agree completely.

"That's fine. How much longer here?"

"We're done," McKay said, coming out from under the console and wiping his hands on his slacks. "Good as new."

"Even better, really," Ian said.

"Oh?"

Ian smiled, but his quick glance at Carter told Jack that he wasn't going to let anything slip while the boy was there.

"Cassandra's with you?"

"She's looking for your son. Something about needing the matched set…"

Carter grinned, knowing he was being teased and good-natured enough to not mind at all. He took after his mother in that sense, because at his age his father would have been glowering.

"I'll take him to-"

"Agent Blake can take him," Jack interrupted, gesturing to the Secret Service agent that had been hovering behind him in the hall. "We have a briefing to get to."

Ian hesitated, but Carter didn't mind being handed off to the Secret Service. He thought it was exciting.

"Can Murray come, Jack?"

Which was all it took for the boy to lose interest in whatever he was being excluded from.

"Sure."

Jack made a gesture to the black lab, who wagged his tail when Carter put his hand on his back, and the boy, the lab and the heavily armed agent all headed down the corridor. As soon as they were gone O'Neill made another gesture – this time toward the briefig room.

"Shall we?"

"Definitely."


	16. Chapter 16

By the time Jack, Ian and McKay all walked into the room, the rest of the people who had been summoned where already present for the briefing. Sam was there, chatting amicably with Hunt as they waited, and River Hayden was talking to the small group of Marine and Air Force officers who had helped in the very short battle for the SGC. Shawn had obviously hooked up with Andrew and the two of them smiled a greeting to Jack, who walked over and sat between Shawn and Sam, while Ian took the empty spot beside Chelani, who watched him intently, clearly curious about what he'd learned. He wasn't the only one.

"What do you have for us, Ian?" Jack asked without preamble. Everyone in the room was supposed to be there, and there wasn't any reason to hold back any information from anyone there. If there were, that person wouldn't have been invited.

"What do you know about the Ashrak?" Ian asked the room in general.

Most of them shrugged, hating to admit that they didn't really know much of anything about them. Ian wasn't surprised; he hated admitting things like that, too.

"They don't seem to like Shawn much," River said, which made Ian smile.

"Actually, turns out they don't hate Shawn at all," he replied.

"They've been after him since he was a little kid," Jack objected. "They must have something against him."

Ian shook his head.

"From what I got out of the guy we captured, the Ashrak are actually specialized assassins for the Goa'uld. You ever hear of assassins choosing their own targets?"

"Not very often," Jack admitted. "So who is it? A Goa'uld?"

"Apparently."

"How could a Goa'uld have something against me personally?" Shawn asked. "Especially something against me since I was a little kid?"

Ian shrugged.

"The Ashrak didn't know. Apparently they don't need many details other than to know who they are supposed to kill. However, I did pick up the Goa'uld's name."

"Yeah?"

"Frenush is the name of the Goa'uld that hired the Ashrak – and this isn't the first time. The bounty is getting bigger and bigger every time a group fails. Big enough that it's hard to resist – not to mention the bragging rights for taking down someone that no one else has been able to get to."

Shawn frowned at the turn of phrase, and shrugged.

"Frenush? I don't know that name."

Jack hadn't recognized it, either. Of course, it wasn't – and never _had_ been – his goal in life to know all the Goa'uld by name.

"I recognize it."

Everyone turned and looked at Chelani, surprised. Of course, not everyone in the room knew exactly who he was – or rather, who he used to play host to – and only a few of them even knew that he wasn't human.

"You do?" Jack asked.

"He is a very minor Goa'uld system lord. One that the other system lords do not even consider a threat – at least as I remember they never did."

"What does he have against Shawn?" Hunt asked.

Chelani shrugged.

"That I cannot know. Only he could answer that. However, I do remember that he was not always a minor system lord. He lost much face at one point – something…" Chelani shrugged again. "I only know what I remember hearing, and that is not much – only that it was a source of amusement to the major system lords and the cause of his fall. Something to do with the Asgard and a group of people they protected."

Sam frowned.

"That's not much help…"

"I am sorry."

"What else did you learn from the _Ashrak_?" McKay asked Ian, more interested in that than in any Goa'uld. McKay knew all there was to know about the Goa'uld, after all.

"They're assassins almost exclusively," Ian answered. "That's what they train for from the time they're very young. Lots of weapons I've never heard of or seen before. I-"

"Things we can make?" McKay asked, quickly.

Of course, he loved new technology so that wasn't surprising. Jack looked interested, also, and Ian knew that had nothing to do with technology. He was always interested in new weapons.

"Let's worry about the Ashrak before we start trying to invent their technology from the ground up," Sam suggested.

McKay scowled, but while he might have snapped at anyone else who suggested that, he visibly clamped down on whatever he was going to say and instead just nodded.

"Sounds to me like we need to find out what it is that Shawn here did to piss of Frenush," River said before anyone else could speak.

"How?" asked Andrew.

"We ask the Tok'ra," Jack replied, looking at Sam, who nodded her agreement.

"Dad might know."

"Good idea. See if you can get hold of him to ask."

"Invite him to the party," Shawn suggested. "That way he gets cake out of it."

Which made more than one person in the room smile.

Sam looked over at Hunt.

"Can I borrow your control room for a minute?"

"Sure."

She got up and left, Jack watching her until she was out of sight behind the door she closed behind her, and only then was he able to pull his attention back to Ian, which amused the New Yorker despite the slight headache he still had.

"So tell me how they got into the base."

"Came in cloaked one at a time," Ian answered. "Until they were all here. Took their time about it, too – over the course of several days. Then they started learning the lay of the base and learning about the people here, learning names –"

"Looking for Shawn?" Andrew interrupted.

"That too."

"I've been on the base all week," Shawn said. "Why didn't they make a move on me before – catch me alone in the locker room or something?"

"Because they were planning on bringing you back alive," Ian told him. "Just to prove how good they were."

"Which is why they had their weapons set on stun," Rodney mused.

"Exactly." Ian shook his head. "It was stupid, really, but the pride came into play. Frenush doesn't want Shawn alive – he has no intention of torturing him or anything-"

"That's a relief," Shawn muttered ruefully, drawing a tight smile from Jack and several others.

"He just wants him dead for what he did."

"What'd they do to my shield?" Hunt asked.

"That was a piece of work," Ian said, and he couldn't hide how impressed he was. "The Ashrak I got hold of was… well, I guess you'd call him their technician, or their tinkerer, maybe? Whatever he was, when he got here he hadn't seen anything like our shielding device –"

"No surprise there," McKay said, interrupting again. "It's Ancient, after all."

"Right. But he figured it out – at least the key components of the technology – and managed to adapt some of their technology to it and change it."

"Which is why I wasn't sure what I was seeing…" Rodney said. "Only that it was something that we hadn't put there."

"Exactly. When I have a chance I'll look back and figure out what he learned, but we don't have to worry about this group telling anyone else, because the Ashrak don't cooperate any more than necessary – another pride thing, I suppose – and this group never had a chance or a reason to send any messages offworld."

"That is a relief," Jack agreed. "You fixed what they did?"

"Yeah. The shield is back at default, and already up again."

"Good."

Jack looked at the others in the group and then at Ian.

"Anything else we need to know right now?"

"Probably," Ian admitted. "But I'm still trying to sort out everything I learned. I've told you the important stuff."

"Then let's break this up for now. We've got other things to do today." He looked at Ian. "Have someone check you out before you leave the base."

"I'm fine, Jack."

"Just do it, Ian. Or would you rather I talk to Cassie about-"

"Fine."

Now everyone in the room smiled, and it seemed like a very good place to end the briefing.


	17. Chapter 17

"You know… I'm fine. Really…"

Cassandra Brooks nodded, gracing her husband with a cheerful smile, despite the fact that she was giving him a thorough examination in the infirmary of the SGC.

"I know."

"Then why are we doing this?"

"Because it's the rules, _Colonel Brooks_," she told him. "And if anyone should follow the rules, it's you."

He grumbled, but just shrugged, knowing that he wasn't going to win any argument with her. He'd learned that lesson a long time ago. Instead, he just watched as she took his blood pressure and every other vital that she could measure, and then shined a light into his eyes, obviously making sure that spending a few minutes in the head of an alien hadn't scrambled his own brains.

"Well?" he asked, when she finally handed him his shirt.

"You're fine."

"I told-"

She wagged a finger at him before he could even start that particular phrase.

"But if you have any dizziness or headaches, you need to tell me right away. Understood?"

"Yes."

"Good." She set the equipment she'd been using back where it belonged and then smiled and offered him her arm. "Let's go find the boys."

OOOOOOOOOOO

They knew who had the boys. Grandma Janet had swooped in and absconded Alexander before Ian had gone into the observation room, while the twins had decided – once they'd hugged and greeted their grandmother – that they wanted to go with Rodney when he went to check on the rest of the base systems – just to make sure there hadn't been any other tampering they needed to take care of. When Cassie and Ian finally found the three, they were all gathered around one of the servers that fed all the base computers, and Rodney was showing the two exactly how to run a diagnostic. The twins looked up when the door opened, and both grinned at their parents, but both Ian and Cassie could see that their attention was still on what McKay was telling them. With their memories, Rodney knew he'd only have to show them once, but if they didn't understand what he was teaching them, then it didn't matter if they knew the steps, they wouldn't know what they'd found.

Of course, he'd been teaching them since they were old enough to toddle around behind him, so he knew what they could understand and what they couldn't, and – privately – he loved having them as protégés since they were showing every indication of being capable of becoming as brilliant as their father – without the bad temper.

"Are we about ready?" Ian asked as soon as Rodney had finished the discourse he was giving the boys – and the practical application of it.

The boys looked at McKay, who nodded.

"Yes."

"Did you find anything?" Cassie asked.

"No. It looks like Ian was right; they only got into the shielding and gate programs. Nothing else has been changed."

"Then let's get over to Shawn's," Ian said, scooping Michael up into his arms. "The restaurant is going to be too busy now to go there, but Gina has promised a big dinner, and I'm starved."

McKay looked a little startled, because the way he'd said it made it seem to indicate that McKay was invited as well.

"What? Me, too?"

It was Ian's turn to be surprised, but he hid it behind a scowl.

"Why not? You don't want to come?"

"No. I mean, yes, of course I do…" Rodney found himself scrambling to find words, something he wasn't used to doing. "I just thought… you know, that it was just for family…"

Cassie smiled, picking up Carter, who twisted so he could see Rodney, too, but it was Ian who spoke up before she could.

"Don't be stupid, McKay," he said, heading for the door. "You are family."

Cassie followed him, but her smile never faded, even though Rodney stared at their backs as if someone had hit him over the head with a board. Over his father's shoulder, Michael noticed he wasn't coming, and waved at him.

"Hurry up, Rodney! I'm _hungry_!"

Startled out of his surprise, he moved to the door as well, and then hesitated.

"Does this mean I need to get Shawn a present?"

"Only if you want cake tomorrow," came the reply.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The house was full. Not only with a lot of dogs – including the puppies, which were so active, now, that they were like 6 puppies each – but also with people. Grandparents from both sides of each family were there – including Nathan and Maggie, who had arrived only a short time before Ian and the others returned – but also there were friends and Secret Service agents and a lot of children and babies. It was more than enough to make someone go crazy if he tried to make sense of things. Luckily, there were other things to keep people from focusing on the noise and the bustle so many people could make. The first was dinner, which Gina hadn't actually made – although in truth she'd never told anyone that she was going to. Instead, she'd ordered out from the same place that they'd planned on eating, and had made certain to order more than enough, figuring that people would be in and out all evening and not wanting anyone to go hungry.

After eating, the kids were sent outside to play in the yard – under the watchful eye of all the dogs as well as a couple of Secret Service agents – Gina enlisted help getting things ready for the party the next day, and those who weren't doing that wandered into Shawn's 'den' to watch as he and Ian tried to hook up the new TV and home theater that Ian and Cassie had insisted they stop by the store and retrieve before Shawn could talk them out of buying it for him.

"Are you sure that goes there?" River asked, frowning, as Ian slid a wire into one of the speakers.

"Yeah."

"I don't think it does," Shawn said, looking at the instructions once more. Of course, they were in Chinese, and none of them actually read Chinese, so it didn't help mush. The pictures were all they had to go by, and they weren't much help, since they weren't in color and all the cables were. "It looks like it goes-"

Ian scowled at him.

"You want to do this?"

"No. I'm just saying… I think it goes there."

"It can't go there," Andrew disagreed. "It has to go in this one – otherwise the volume will just be the TV and not the-"

"Seriously?" Nathan asked, watching them from the sofa where he was sitting with Jack, nursing a beer. "You are all geniuses and none of you know how to set up a stereo system?"

Now Ian's scowl was directed at his father.

"It's not that simple, dad."

Jack snorted.

"These are the guys we've turned the SGC over to, you know…"

Nate grinned.

"We should get Jake in here. I bet he could do it for them."


	18. Chapter 18

Sending for Jake hadn't turned out to be necessary, although the boy did end up coming into the room to watch. He was just at that stage where he didn't always like to play with the younger kids and wasn't quite ready yet to join in the conversations of the adults that were almost constantly around him. There weren't a lot of kids his own age, especially just then. He knew, though, that Ian would like having him around – he'd told him so a million times – and wouldn't mind if he was in the room instead of outside with the other kids. It was also a chance to spend time with his big brother – who was far too away for Jake to see as often as he'd have liked.

He sat between River – who he thought was entertaining as hell, although his mother would have flipped if she knew he thought it _with_ the swear word – and Andrew, who was throwing out comments at Ian that would make the New Yorker throw a dirty look over his shoulder, but made Jake giggle every time. Which was probably the whole point, since he winked at Jake every time a comment solicited a glare. Finally, when they got the TV and the new surround sound system set up, Shawn posed good-naturedly at the sarcastic applause, and Ian just rolled his eyes.

"Happy birthday, Shawn," Cassie said, coming in to take a look.

"Thanks, Cassie."

"So?" Jack asked, taking a drink of his beer. "What do we watch first?"

"_Little Mermaid_!" Dotty said, running into the room just in time to hear the question and clutching her daddy's leg while she looked owlishly at the new TV.

"I was thinking something a little more violent…" Jack muttered, well aware that he wasn't going to win. Especially when Nia ran into the room, as well. Apparently the kids were done outside – and when he looked out the window he saw that the sun was down and it was showing every sign of being later than he'd thought. He looked at his watch and realized that it was already evening.

Shawn scooped Dotty up into his arms.

"We have to watch something the boys will want to watch, too, baby girl…" he told her. "They won't want to watch Little Mermaid."

He didn't even grumble about christening his TV with a cartoon instead of something else. It was all part of being a father as far as he was concerned. Something he'd learned watching Sam and Jack. They'd get the kids settled in the den with a cartoon and that would leave the adults free to chat in the living room. Even better, they'd let the kids fall asleep in front of the TV, keep them all here for the night, which would make it easier for everyone involved.

Dotty pouted prettily, and he smiled when he saw his own mother's eyes looking back at him. She carried her grandmother's temperament as well, however, and a moment later shrugged – something she'd picked up from Gina, he noticed.

"Okay."

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Before long, the kids were all in the den, munching on popcorn and juice boxes, watching _Cars_ and cuddled in blankets and cushions to help them fall asleep. Jake had opted to join the adults in the living room, and now he was sitting between Ian and Shawn, listening in with absolutely no idea what any of them were talking about as Rodney, Ian and his mother tried to explain to the others what had been done to the shielding program at the SGC. He was definitely wishing he'd decided to watch the cartoon, because the conversation was so far over his head that it was actually putting him to sleep. He'd _expected_ dirty jokes and interesting stories from Atlantis, but all the grown ups were talking about was the invasion of the SGC, which Jake had missed completely, but from what he'd managed to get from the twins had been both very exciting and really scary.

Even worse, they weren't even discussing what had happened – the guns and the aliens and all the interesting stuff – they were just talking about the computers. Jake didn't really care for computers all that much; just what he needed in order to play video games. He started drifting off almost immediately, despite the effort to stay awake in case they changed the subject to something more interesting. It didn't help that he was still on East Coast time and it was a couple of hours later as far as his inner clock was concerned, and it wasn't long before he was leaning against Ian's side, snoring softly.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam smiled as she watched Jacob battle valiantly against falling asleep, only to lose the battle and end up sprawled against Ian. The New Yorker noticed, of course – he noticed things concerning Jake even more quickly than he did his own sons – and rested his hand on the boy's head.

"We should be going," Sam said, softly.

"Don't go," Shawn objected. "Ian can put him in our bed for now."

Sam smiled her agreement and Ian scooped Jake easily into his arms and headed for the bedroom, followed by Murray who had been lounging at Jack's feet the entire evening. Clearly the young lab had had enough of the boring conversation as well, and was more than ready for bed, too.

Jake roused only briefly when Ian settled him in the bed, stopping to take off his shoes before covering him with the comforter on the bed. Murray jumped up beside the boy and he opened his eyes.

"I fell asleep?" he asked.

Ian nodded, brushing his hand along his forehead to get his hair out of his eyes.

"Yeah. Go back to sleep, okay?"

The youngster nodded, too, and closed his eyes. Ian had been prepared to 'help' him fall asleep again, but it turned out not to be necessary. With Murray cuddled beside him, he was asleep almost before Ian was done speaking. The New Yorker watched him sleep for just a moment, and then rubbed Murray's ears before leaving the room and closing the door. Before heading to the living room, however, he stopped at the den and checked in on the younger kids. Dotty was asleep, Nia probably hadn't lasted even as long as her brother, and the twins were wide awake and waved at him when they noticed him at the door. He waved back, but motioned for them to be quiet and not wake the others. They nodded and turned their attention back to the movie and Ian went to join the others.

"You get him settled?" Jack asked and Ian took Alexander from Cassie, who looked a bit sleepy as well.

"Yeah. He's fine. Nia's out, too."

"Good. I don't want them to be grumpy tomorrow."

"They're your kids, Jack," Andrew told him with a grin. "They're always going to be grumpy."

Ian snorted, amused, but didn't say anything since he could tell that the baby he was holding was just on the verge of falling asleep as well and he didn't want to jolt him awake. Instead, he sat down beside his mother, who promptly held her arms out for the baby. Since Nate was holding Jessica, crooning at the little girl Maggie had obviously decided she needed a baby to hold, too. He handed Alex over and turned back to Sam.

"When's your dad going to be here?"

"He said a few hours," she replied. "Which means we'll have to wait until morning to talk to him."

"We're on Atlantis time," Rodney objected. "I don't need to wait, I-"

"No sense making him tell everything twice," Jack interrupted – not quite as annoyed as he might have been years before. Rodney was growing on him, too, apparently. "It can wait until morning. Tell me how Guardian performed."

Since he'd already been given the basics, Ian had an idea that he wanted to hear the whole story from beginning to end, and before he could even open his mouth, Rodney started telling the tale. Since he'd been there the entire time, Ian just leaned back and listened, more than content to just sit for a while. Atlantis time or not, he was tired.


	19. Chapter 19

_Author's note: So I know these are few and far between right now. I'm having problem with my home network, and since I always use my laptop for the writing (my new computer doesn't even have works installed yet) I am stuck uploading these from coffee shops and the like, places I am never at. Anyone have a router they're not using? Just kidding, but until I go out and buy a new one, this story is going to drag, and I really do apologize for that._

OOOOOOOOOOO

The party broke up not much later. Jack had heard the initial report of the infiltration of the base, and it didn't take long to describe how well Guardian did its job to separate the good guys from the bad guys and help take the base back. The technology that Ian brought into play was also helpful, and Jack wished – not for the first time – that they had more of the devices and people who could use them. He was pleased, though, that Guardian had done so well, although he and Nathan had both been one the receiving end of General Hunt's annoyance since neither had informed him of the existence of the program, assuming that he'd already known about it.

When they decided to call it a night, Jack and Sam went back to the SGC where they'd stay the night in one of the VIP rooms. Nathan and Maggie did the same, mostly to make it easier on the Secret Service agents, a couple of whom were already planning on staying the night at Shawn's since that was where Jake and Nia were. Despite the fact that the O'Neill's were in 'familiar territory' they weren't taking any chances. Andrew invited River over to his place, and the Californian accepted, taking Jessica with him, while Ian and Cassie were going to spend the night with Janet, leaving the boys at Shawn's but taking Alexander with them. They made plans to all meet up back at Shawn's in the late morning, giving everyone else a chance to sleep in and try to catch up with the different time zones.

"That was fun," Cassie told him as he drove them to Janet and Emmett's. Despite the fact that Atlantis time was purposely kept as close to SGC time, she sounded a little sleepy. "We should come more often."

He nodded his agreement.

"It's good to see them."

She smiled, glancing over at him in the dark interior of the car.

"Who'd have thought you'd ever admit something like that."

Ian snorted.

"Just keep it to yourself, okay? I have a reputation to protect."

OOOOOOOOOO

POTUS and the Vice President rode back to the base together, along with their wives. Despite Jack's grumbling, the Secret Service agents did all the driving and he and the others were almost always put in the back. At the moment, however, that was fine. This way they could talk and he didn't have to try to look over his shoulder and watch the road at the same time.

"So what else do you know about this guy?" He asked Chelani, who was looking out the window with interest as they drove.

The Ancient turned back to O'Neill.

"Frenush?"

"Right."

"Nothing, I'm afraid. I will be very interested to find out what the Goa'uld have against Shawn."

"Not as interested as I will," Jack said. He looked over at Sam, clearly hoping that she might be able to come up with something that he might have missed. She didn't have a clue, though, and it showed in her expression.

"Even if Jacob can tell us who he is, what can we do about it?" Nathan asked. "I know you guys know more about these Goa'uld than I do, but it's not like we can tell him to stop, right?"

Sam shrugged.

"There are options…"

"Like what?" Maggie asked. "We don't have the platform needed to launch an attack on a system lord – and really, we can't justify doing it over a grudge. Even if it is for Shawn…"

Maggie paid a lot of attention to what was going on with the SGC and knew even more than her husband about how things worked there. Not surprising since Ian was so deeply involved with all things political and military and now that she was in the loop she kept track of what he was facing as much as she could.

"Officially we can't," Jack agreed, leaning back into his seat a bit. "But there are ways. Between the Tok'ra and the Jaffa, we should be able to at least find out what the grudge is, and then we can decide what to do about it."

"Which means we wait until dad gets here and tells us," Sam said.

"Exactly."

"It'll be good to see him," Nate told them.

Sam agreed whole-heartedly.

OOOOOOOOOOOO

The VIP rooms at the base weren't as plush as their rooms back in Washington, but the bed was soft and Sam and Jack were both tired from the long day. They fell asleep almost immediately and both of them slept soundly, almost certainly because they were even more comfortable at the SGC than they were even in the White House. It was Sam who woke first, stretching languidly for a moment before she opened her eyes and saw the concrete walls that reminded her where she was. She looked over at Jack, saw he was still asleep and slipped out of the bed silently and carefully to avoid waking him. Not that he wouldn't wake up soon enough; they were both on Eastern time, after all, and because of that a couple of hours ahead of the rest of the base. But she might as well let him get as much sleep as he could. It was bound to be a busy day, filled with talk of Ashrak, yes, but also with a party and cake and lots of fun and presents, she hoped.

"Sam?"

She smiled, knowing that her absence had probably woken him and not her motions beside him. She leaned over and braced herself with an arm on either side of him as she gently kissed his lips.

"Good morning…"

"Already?" he didn't even open his eyes. Of course, he hated waking up quickly – a habit he'd gotten out of since leaving the SGC.

"Yeah. I'm going to go get some coffee. Go back to sleep. It's still early."

He mumbled something that sounded like agreement, rolled over, cuddle up against her pillow and went back to sleep almost immediately. She watched long enough to make sure he was asleep, and then got dressed and opened the door.

Not surprisingly, a Secret Service Agent was standing guard outside the door and he snapped to their version of attention as soon as he saw her. Sam smiled at him and he grinned sheepishly at having been startled.

"Morning Henry."

"Morning, Sam."

It was quite a concession that he called her by her first name, and it had taken years for them to get comfortable doing it. Of course, they always called the kids by their names, and they'd call Maggie by hers, but never Jack or Nathan. Which was completely between them and Jack. She didn't like being called Ma'am all the time.

"Anything new?"

"Your father arrived about an hour ago."

"Why didn't you wake me up?"

"He told me not to."

Not that they took orders from Jacob Carter, but the Secret Service knew the day that POTUS and the others had ahead of them, and they were aware that they needed their sleep, too.

She smiled, not annoyed at all.

"Where is he?"

There was a quick whispered conversation that she only heard one side of as he consulted someone in his radio and then listened to the reply in his earbug, and a moment later he looked back to her.

"Commissary."

"Thank you."

That would be her first stop, then. Coffee and conversation with her dad sounded like a very good way to start her morning.


	20. Chapter 20

Author's note: Still need a router, but this close to Christmas I don't dare buy myself one until I see if someone else gets one for me! I'll do my best to get these out as promptly as possible in the mean time.

OOOOOOOOOO

Sam didn't need a security escort to the commissary. She knew where it was and since the Secret Service knew the base was secure, the agent outside their quarters simply gave the others a heads up that she was on the move and where she was going. She was hoping to surprise her dad by showing up before he probably expected her to, and she was looking forward to having a chance to chat with him about little things that weren't any more serious than how the kids were doing in school and that kind of thing before everyone woke up and arrived at the base and the conversation turned more serious.

She was surprised, however, to find that not only was her dad not alone in the commissary, but he was talking to Ian, who looked as fresh as if he'd been up for hours. Jacob Carter had his back to her, but Ian noticed her entrance immediately, and he smiled, which made Jacob look over his shoulder to see what had caught his attention. While Ian's smile had been warm – especially since it was Ian, who so rarely smiled at anyone but his kids – Jacob's was so welcoming that Sam couldn't help but smile back, feeling warm and fuzzy at seeing him after so long. He got up and crossed the room to meet her, hugging her tightly.

"Hey, Sammy."

"Hi, Dad."

"You look great."

"Thanks. You do, too."

"How are the kids?"

"Great."

"Jack?"

"He's fine, too."

"Everyone's fine, Jacob," Ian told him from where he was still sitting, his New York drawl amused. "You'd have heard if anything was wrong."

The Tok'ra threw Ian a look that was supposed to be disapproving but was also more amused than anything.

"These are questions you're _supposed_ to ask your loved ones, Ian," Carter told him. "And if you had any social graces you'd know that."

Ian smiled.

"Are you saying my mother raised me badly?"

Jacob let go of Sam, but kept his arm around her waist as they walked back over to the table.

"I'd never say anything like that," he replied. "Your mother can only do as much as she could with what little she had to start with… poor woman."

Ian snorted, amused, and handed Sam his coffee cup.

"You start on that, Sam. I'll get more."

He got up and headed for the coffee machine and Sam sat down in the chair he'd abandoned to her, watching as her dad sat across from her.

"How are things?" she asked.

He shrugged, his eyes still cheerful.

"Fine. We're holding our own still, wreaking what havoc we can for the Goa'uld. You guys?"

"The kids are excited to be out of Washington. They have a bit more freedom here than they get back home." She looked over at Ian, who was pouring himself a cup of coffee. "And Jake gets to see _Ian_ – which doesn't happen often enough for him."

"Is he still determined to be an archeologist?"

Sam nodded.

"When he's not telling us he's going to be a super hero, yes."

"He's smart enough to be one."

"A super hero?"

Jacob smiled.

"Smart ass."

"I learned from the best."

They both smiled at that, settling easily into their conversation, and Ian joined them only a moment later.

"How'd you sleep?" he asked, handing her a fresh cup of coffee, and taking his own back. "Better than back home, I bet."

"How'd you know?"

"Because you didn't have to share your bed with Murray."

Which made both of them smile – although the smiles were both tinged with just a touch of sorrow because both remembered the big black lab that used to be such a bed hog long before Murray came to stay with them.

"You've never slept with _Jack_," Sam quipped. "He makes Murray look like a rookie."

Ian snorted again.

"And never will if God loves me…"

Jacob laughed.

"So I'm invited to the birthday party, right?"

"Only if you tell us everything you know about Frenush," Ian replied. "Otherwise, no cake and no ice cream."

The words and tone were light-hearted, but his expression was serious. Jacob wasn't offended, though. Ian always looked serious, after all.

"As it happens, I do have some information that may or may not be useful," he said. "But I'm going to wait until Jack and the others show up, so I don't have to repeat myself."

Which made sense – even though neither of them were patient by nature. Sam was quick to take advantage of the wait, though, and smiled cheerfully.

"In that case, I'll buy you breakfast, while Ian rounds everyone up."

Since that included Shawn, Andrew and several other people who weren't even on the base just then, it would give them plenty of time to talk – and she wouldn't have to share him with anyone.

Jacob looked at Ian, making sure it was okay with him, and then smiled at the New Yorker's casual shrug.

"Sounds great, Sammy. Here? Or off-base?"

"Off base," Sam told him. "That way we won't be interrupted when Jack wakes up."

And if they were off base, Jack – or anyone else, including Ian – wouldn't be able to descend on them asking questions about the Ashrak until they returned.

Jacob nodded his agreement.

"Sounds great."


	21. Chapter 21

She didn't have as much time alone with Jacob as she'd hoped. Not for lack of trying, though. She'd borrowed a non-descript car from the motor pool and dressed in the casual clothing she was in, she and Jacob could have passed for any father and daughter having a quiet early morning breakfast. The Secret Service agents had come, of course, but they were very good at being discreet when they wanted to be – which wasn't often, since the sight of serious men clad in black suits and sunglasses was a very good deterrence when it came to would be troublemakers. Wearing jeans and a polo and looking more like Sam's brother than her protector, one stayed beside Sam and Jacob at the corner table they requested, while two others sat near the entrance at a booth and watched the doors intently every time anyone came near. They ordered a simple breakfast of pancakes and eggs, with coffee, and talked only of family matters and the normal things that neither ever had a chance to chat about. For obvious reasons.

The solitude didn't last long, though. The agent sitting beside her stiffened imperceptibly to most, and Sam could see from his expression that he was listening to something that was being radioed into his earbug. Sure enough, a moment later he looked over to her and Jacob.

"POTUS is up and asking when you're planning on returning…"

It was obvious he was wondering, too. They didn't like it when a member of the family was off on their own with no motorcade to warn everyone off, after all.

Sam sighed and looked over at Jacob, who grinned at her.

"Don't frown like that, Sammy," he told her. "We'll have plenty of time to talk before I go."

"I'm going to hold you to that." She turned to the agent. "We can head back."

He nodded and waved for the waitress to bring the check, and only a few minutes later they were all back in the car and headed back to the base. Despite her annoyance, Sam had to admit she was just as curious as she knew Jack – and probably the others – were to hear what Jacob might be able to tell them. If anything.

OOOOOOOOOOO

The group in the briefing room wasn't all that large. Ian, Shawn, Andrew, River and General Hunt, who apparently never slept, Sam decided, were all dressed in casual uniforms and looked wide awake. Nate was there, simply because he was curious and had enough rank to go wherever he wanted, and Jack, Sam and Jim were there as well. Rodney McKay was there because he hated when someone had a meeting and he wasn't in the loop – probably because he was worried they were talking about him. Jacob took the seat at the end of the table, opposite Hunt, who was at the head – only fair since it was his briefing room, after all – and as soon as one of the Airmen brought in coffee and pastries for them and left, Jack spoke up.

"So what do you have for us, Jacob?"

"Not as much as you probably are hoping for," Carter admitted. "But I can at least give you a little information." He didn't have any notes in front of him, but they all knew it wasn't necessary most of the time. His symbiote had a very good memory – not as good as Ian's of course, but enough to save him the hassle of ever needing to carry a pad and pen around. "I've never heard of Frenush," he told them. "And neither has Selmak."

"Well, you were right about not having as much as I was hoping for," Jack told him, reaching for the coffee.

Jacob smiled, not at all offended. He was well used to O'Neill's sarcasm by now.

"Since we didn't know anything, we asked around to those who might. After all, Frenush has been around a long time… and most of the other system lords know who he is – which means the Tok'ra have had to have heard of him in one form or the other."

"And?" Ian asked.

"Frenush was a lesser ranked system lord, but arrogant – as they all are – and making a move to garner more power for himself to change his status among the others."

"But…?" Nate asked.

"Something happened that caused him to lose face, and instead of making a move to become one of the preeminent system lords, he became a laughingstock instead."

"Which would have put an end to any kind of hope for power," Jim said. "Since fear is one of the primary ways the system lords rule over their subjects…"

"Which is all well and good," Sam said. "I don't understand what that has to do with Shawn…"

"Neither do I," Jacob admitted. "I told you I didn't have all the information you'd want."

"At least we have a _name_," Shawn said, shrugging. "That's more than we did have."

"We have another name," Jacob said. "I asked around to see what else I could find out about this event and someone threw out a reference to something called a _Pe'aoli_. Ever heard of it?"

"What is it?" Sam asked.

The Tok'ra shrugged.

"I'm not even sure if it's a thing, or a place, or a-"

"It's not a place, or a thing," Ian interrupted. "It's a _who_."

"What?"

"How do you know _that_?" McKay asked, looking interested for the first time in something other than the danish he'd been munching on and the coffee in his cup. "I've never heard of-"

"You wouldn't have," Ian told him. "Neither would I, if I hadn't read the name in one of SG-1's old mission files."

"You know who it is?" Jack asked.

"They're people," Ian told him, his eyes slightly distant as he searched his memory for more information. "A group of people on a planet that was flooding. Thor came and asked you to-"

"They're the ones that thought you wanted to steal their cows," Shawn suddenly said, sitting up a little more. "They didn't trust the Asgard so Thor came and requested you guys to go talk to them. That's when I found out about the Stargate – and a lot of other classified things, as I recall…"

Sam nodded, remembering as well, but Jack just looked annoyed, and Ian couldn't tell if he remembered the mission or not. Of course, there had been a lot of missions and they almost certainly ran into each other all the time in his mind. There was no reason to think that he remembered everything as clearly as Ian and Shawn would. Ian because he remembered _everything_ clearly, and Shawn because it had been such an important time for him.

"There were Goa'uld involved as I recall," she said. "Could it have been this Frenush?"

Ian shrugged.

"I don't know. It doesn't name any names in the report. But it's as good a guess as any. I don't know how he knew about Shawn, or why he'd have a grudge against him, but it probably dates back to that…"

"The Goa'uld were threatening the people on the planet…" Sam said. "We…" she trailed off and then looked at Shawn. "You made that device that didn't do anything…"

"The annoying one with the blinking lights," Jack confirmed, telling them all that he remembered more than he was letting on. "Obviously it did the trick and distracted the Goa'uld…"

"And something happened with it that caused Frenush's downfall," Jim said.

"Being tricked by a simple decoy could have done it," Jacob said. Especially if the others found out somehow that it was created by a child."

"How would they do that?" Andrew asked.

"What's more important, though," Jack said. "Is what to do about it…? Now that we know who – and maybe even _why_ – we need to put a stop to these assassination attempts."

"Shawn won't be safe until the Ashrak do what they've been hired to accomplish," Jim told them.

"Or until Frenush stops hiring them…" Ian said.

"We can't just hop a ship and tell him to stop," Sam replied.

Ian didn't answer, but River looked suddenly interested as well.

"Why not?"

"For one thing, we don't know where he is."

"We can find that out," Shawn said.

"And then what? Hop in a ship and fly over and tell him to knock it off?" Nate asked, sarcastically.

"I'm thinking a bit more force would be needed…" Ian told his dad. "We don't take any ship; we take _Cassandra_."

"With a Gateship as back up," River added. "Between the two, a minor system lord wouldn't have a chance."


	22. Chapter 22

_Author's note: Okay, I'm really sorry about the wait. I worked myself into a corner and I can't believe how much trouble I had figuring it out. Hopefully the story won't have any more breaks like that one._

_OOOOOOOOOOOOO_

"You can't do that, Ian," Jacob told him, shaking his head. "Even a system lord as low on the totem pole as Frenush would take that aggression as an act of defiance that can't be overlooked. You'd be forcing him to declare war with the Tau'ri."

"Which will get a lot of people – including Jaffa – killed," Andrew reluctantly added. "We can't do that. It'd be irresponsible."

"Especially just for me," Shawn said. "I'm not going to let anyone die for some dumb prank I played on a system lord 20 years ago."

Ian scowled, but leaned back in his chair rather than snapping at them as he might have in the past.

"I'm open to other ideas, then…"

"Negotiations would be best," Jacob advised. "Open up a dialogue with –"

"No," Jack interrupted. "We don't negotiate with terrorists, I'm sure as hell not going to negotiate with someone who has repeatedly tried to kill my son."

"But-"

"Other ideas?" Jack interrupted once more, telling everyone in the room that _that_ particular suggestion was dead and buried.

"Assassinate him." They all turned and looked at River, who met Ian's surprised glance. "What?"

"_Assassinate him_?" Ian repeated, incredulously.

"Why not?"

Before Ian could respond – which was just as well, since he wasn't actually _against _the idea, just surprised that it had come from River – Jacob spoke up.

"Because even though he's a minor system lord, he serves a purpose. If he were suddenly out of the picture and another system lord – even one slightly more powerful – took over his territories, that could change the balance of power in the area and could cause a lot more harm than good."

River scowled.

"So we let him get away with sending people to kill Shawn? And endangering everyone else in the process?"

Jacob looked helplessly over at Jack, who was scowling, too.

"We can't afford to kill him…"

"I know, Jacob."

But that didn't mean he had to be happy about it.

Shawn glanced over at Ian, and was a little surprised to see that he didn't seem to be paying attention. Which didn't mean that he wasn't; it just meant his mind was elsewhere just then.

"What are you thinking of, Ian?" he asked, knowing he'd need to be direct or he'd never get a straight answer out of him.

The New Yorker shrugged.

"I'm not sure yet…"

"You're _not _going to kill Frenush," Jack told him.

Ian nodded, not at all offended that Jack thought he needed the reminding. Years ago he might have still considered assassination, despite orders against it. Now, however, he was already heading a different direction. He just needed more time to think it all through.

"I know."

Sam leaned forward, aware that he had some idea forming. Her blue eyes met his dark ones.

"You'll tell us when you figure it out?"

He nodded.

"Definitely."

"Are you planning on figuring it out in the next few hours?" Shawn asked, looking down at his phone – probably responding to an incoming text. "Gina wants to know where we are and how much longer we're going to be."

"We're done here," Jack said, standing up and effectively ending the meeting. "We'll reconvene at Shawn's for the party – unless anyone has anything to add or any new ideas?"

No one raised their hands or spoke, but McKay looked like he wanted to. Instead, he looked over at Ian, opened his mouth and then closed it and shook his head, too.

Jack waited, just to make sure, and then nodded.

"Good. Everyone can think on it, and if we come up with any good ideas we can regroup tomorrow."

Everyone else stood as well – except Ian, who was still staring off into space, and McKay, who was still hesitating.

"McKay?"

Startled, Rodney looked over at Shawn.

"Yes?"

"Coming to the party?"

"Oh. Well… I wasn't… that is to say, I-"

"You're _invited_," Shawn told him, interrupting his hedging. "You should come."

Flushing slightly, the astrophysicist nodded.

"I will. Thank you."

"Good." Now Shawn looked at Ian, who had watched the interplay between McKay and him with amusement. "Whatever you're thinking about can wait, too."

"Yeah, yeah…"

Shawn grinned, but before he could say anything, Jack had a final say as he walked out of the briefing room and headed for the corridor.

"Don't make me late for cake, Ian!"

God forbid.

Ian shook his head, but he pushed his chair back and stood up as well.

"What are you thinking of?" McKay asked curiously as they lagged behind the group heading for the elevators.

Ian smiled, knowing that as curious as Rodney was, he wouldn't leave the question alone now that he'd voiced it. However, Ian hadn't thought things through yet, and while Rodney was as brilliant as they came – even moreso, really – he couldn't use him as a sounding board until he had a semblance of an idea. One that didn't include killing the system lord, when that was by far his first and best choice.

"You tell me."

With a challenge like that on the table, Rodney would try to do just that, Ian knew. McKay looked annoyed for just a moment, and then shrugged.

"Okay." His quick mind ran through possibilities as they walked, and as usual Rodney voiced them as they came to him. "You can't go after _Frenush_, we already established that. Not directly, anyway…"

"Right."

McKay looked over at him.

"So you're going to take a non-direct route…"

"Yeah. Once I figure out-"

"The _Ashrak_," McKay interrupted, figuring it out immediately. "You were in its head. You know all about them and how to get them to stop coming after Adams…"

Ian scowled. He shouldn't have been surprised; McKay was a genius, after all, and after working together for so many years, he was well aware of Ian's abilities. Even if he was overestimating them at the moment.

"I haven't figured it out, _yet_," Ian told him, temporizing, as they watched the others load into the elevator in the corridor ahead of them. "But it's going to have to be the Ashrak, yeah. We figure out how to stop them, and we take care of the problem without even looking up Frenush."

"Well, how do you stop elite assassins?"

Ian shrugged.

"I'm still working on it."

He could work on it while he ate cake, though, and spent some time with the boys.


	23. Chapter 23

_Author's note: Okay, I'm going to finish this story now! No new ones until this one is done. I miss writing the campers series._

OOOOOOOOOOOO

Shawn had inherited a lot of things from Jack. His looks, definitely, since he had always looked far more like Jack than like his mother. He'd also inherited a fair intelligence, which unlike Jack, he wasn't reluctant to show off when he the opportunity came up – although he knew he wasn't anywhere near as intelligent as a lot of the people he worked with. He was used to that, though, since having the most intelligent people in the world at the SGC was completely necessary. Other things he didn't inherit from Jack so much as he learned from his as he was growing up. Relationships, how to shoot and military topics, those were all things Jack had helped him to understand and sometimes even to master.

Another was the importance of a good barbeque.

Jack loved to barbeque. It was a good way to bring people together and a great way to get some much-needed downtime in lives that were most of the time almost painfully stressful. Shawn loved it, too, and almost certainly because of all the barbeques he'd attended when he was younger. Gina knew that, and so she'd requested that the caterers at least put some kind of barbeque element into the party, and they had done so successfully.

They'd brought in two large barbeques, one gas and one using coals and woodchips. Each was being manned by a professional; one who knew exactly how long to cook the steaks, burgers, chicken and even the hotdogs that were primarily for the younger party goers. Both were also adroit at avoiding the eager dogs and puppies, who were watching with big brown eyes and drooling jowls and circling the barbeques, hoping that a moment of distraction might result in a dropped burger, steak or even a wiener. They weren't picky, after all.

There was plenty to do. Despite that it was Shawn's birthday the party planners had rightly geared the events available toward the children. Which was how it should be as far as Shawn was concerned. There was a bouncy castle, games and all sorts of treats and little presents so the kids wouldn't be left out when it came time for Shawn to open his birthday presents. The adults were free to join in on the games if they wanted – and the kids loved it when they did – or they could sit back in one of the many chairs and simply watch the others play.

Ian took advantage of the day of relative rest to sit back and spend some time with people he didn't get to spend nearly enough time with. His mother was one of them, and she clearly felt the same way, because despite spending plenty of time with her grandchildren, she ended up beside him every chance she had – and not just to steal Alexander from him. She was standing beside him, her arm around his waist in comfortable time together when Rodney McKay came up on the other side and handed him his car keys.

"That was quick."

"Yeah."

"Any luck?" Ian asked, sliding the keys into his pocket.

"Kind of."

"You either got something or you didn't."

McKay made an annoyed sound.

"Of course I _got_ something. I just don't know him well enough to know if he will like it."

"You went to get Shawn a present?" Maggie guessed.

"Yes."

"What did you get him?" she asked, curiously.

"A gift card to the gas station down the road."

They both looked over at him, and he frowned.

"What? He needs to buy gas, right?"

"He's right," Maggie conceded with a shrug. "Besides, it beats a garden gnome."

Now it was Ian's turn to roll his eyes.

"I was ten. It looked like something I thought you'd like."

McKay looked over.

"He got you a garden gnome?"

Maggie nodded.

"He got _two_ – one for me and one for Nathan. For our anniversary."

"I thought it was romantic," Ian said, slightly defensive. "A girl one and a guy one…"

"Seriously?"

"I was _ten_."

McKay snorted in amusement, but before he could say anything Carter ran up with a hotdog in his hand.

"Grandma? Want a hot dog?"

She took it from him with a smile and a thank you, but as he ran off to get another one, Ian noticed she didn't eat it – despite the fact that he happened to know that she loved hot dogs. Something Carter obviously had remembered, also.

"You're not going to eat it?" he asked.

"Did you see how dirty his hands were?" she replied with an exaggerated shudder. She made sure the boy was occupied and then handed the hotdog down to Jasmine, who had wandered by and was clearly unconcerned about dirty hands in favor of a quick treat to judge by how quickly she ate it. "Besides, I'm waiting on a steak."

Ian grinned, and hugged her.

"I'm going to go see what Cassandra's doing. Don't let Rodney eat all the chicken, okay?"

His mother smiled, and he ignored the indignant sound McKay made and walked into the house, knowing that since he hadn't seen her in the yard – or in the bouncy castle – she almost certainly had to be in the house. He found her in the den, holding Jessica and talking to Gina, who was holding one of the puppies with a concerned expression. Shawn's wife brightened when she saw him, though, and handed the little lab up to him before he could say anything or ask what was going on.

"Will you see if you can find out why she's whining?"

He didn't even try to object and say he wasn't a vet. She knew he wasn't a vet, but she also knew that he was better than a vet in many ways. Especially when it came to injuries, and it was clear she was worried about the puppy. Ian rolled his eyes and held the puppy up a little, looking at her eyes and smiling despite himself. God, he loved puppies. A quick check was all it took for him to find out what was wrong.

"She's fine, Gina," he told her, tapping the puppy playfully on the nose. "Just put her nose where it didn't belong and it got singed."

"What?"

"Some hot grease from the barbeque got her. It's all good, now."

"You're sure?"

Ian nodded.

"Trust me. Feed her a treat and she'll forget all about what happened." He handed the puppy back to Gina, and then reached for Jessica, who had been watching the exchange with what might have been interest – or might have simply been gas. "Where's daddy, little girl?"

"He's in the kitchen," Cassie replied, since it was obvious Jessica wasn't quite ready for a conversation. Even for Ian. "With Jack."

"Good." He looked down at the baby in his arms. "Let's go see the President and tell him how to run the country, shall we?"


	24. Chapter 24

Jack and River weren't the only two in the kitchen, of course. Not when the caterers had taken over the kitchen for their uses in creating food for the party. There were people going in and out all the time – under the careful watch of the Secret Service – and to stay out of their way POTUS and River had shunted themselves to a somewhat quiet corner of the kitchen, where Ian and Jessica found them after only a few moments of looking. Although Jessica in all honesty hadn't been looking all that hard. River spotted them as soon as they walked in the door, and he smiled cheerfully, causing Jack to look over as well.

"Where on Earth did you find _that_ stinky thing?"

Ian looked down at Jessica, who had started grinning at River as soon as she'd recognized him.

"Well, technically, we found-"

"I was talking to _her_, Ian," Jack said, reaching over and taking the baby from him. She looked up at him, and POTUS planted a kiss on her forehead, tenderly. "Hey baby… Wanna sneak away and share a piece of cake?"

"Where did _you_ get cake before we sing Happy Birthday?" Ian asked.

"Pfft, I'm the president of the free world, Ian. I can get cake."

"Does _Sam_ know?"

"No. And if you tell her I'll tell your mom that you want to go on tour with her next time she goes…"

Ian snorted, amused, and looked over at River.

"Why isn't _your_ mother here? I know she was invited."

"Because it's the middle of the competition surfing season, Ian, and as much as she wanted to come, she's in Hawaii with my dad right now."

"I thought they retired."

"They did, but now they promote – and that makes it even harder to get away when things are busy."

"Invite her and your dad to Atlantis, River," Jack suggested. "Things are slow enough there right now that you could take a break, right? And it would be exotic – even for people used to all the far away places they see every day."

"Can I do that?" River asked, dubious. "It's-"

"If they come in with a regular gate activation it wouldn't cost anything more than sending in replacements, and they can leave the same way," Ian said, shrugging. "I don't see why not. Especially if Jack talks to Hunt about it to grease the ways a bit…"

"I can do that," Jack told him. "Figure out when they can come, and let me know what you need. Right now, we're going to find some cake."

He wandered off without further ado, Jessica still in his arms and obviously no intention of giving her up any time soon. River looked at Ian and the New Yorker shrugged.

"There ya go. Bring the folks to you. Why not?"

"I'll talk to them about it…"

"Good." Since there wasn't anything else to discuss – at least not at that particular moment – he closed that particular train of conversation and slapped River on his shoulder. "Let's go find Shawn and see what he's doing."

OOOOOOOOOO

"_Please_, daddy?"

"Are you sure?"

"Yes!"

"And you won't be scared?"

"No. Carter said he'd come with me."

Shawn looked down at his daughter and then over to the placid pony, who looked back at him, lazily, as if aware of his scrutiny. She wasn't that big, but compared to Dotty, she was a giant, but the little girl was undaunted and looked up at her father hopefully.

"Oh, let her ride, Adams," Ian said walking over with River. "She's going to do it at camp, eventually, right?"

"Not yet, though…"

Ian scooped Dotty up in his arms before Shawn could make a decision and with his free hand waved Carter and Michael both over from where they had been waiting by the pony ride area. The twins came running over, looking up at him, expectantly.

"Dotty wants to go riding. Tell Shawn it's not scary, will you?"

"It's not scary," Carter told Shawn. "We've done it a lot."

"You have horses on Atlantis?" Shawn asked.

Michael grinned and shook his head.

"Grandma took us."

"They learned at the same place I did when I was a kid," Ian told him, turning Dotty upside down and making the little girl giggle. It was a lot better than the fear that had been in her eyes the day before, and as far as Ian was concerned the more things that could make her smile and forget about that scary day the better. "And they were about her age."

"They have helmets," Michael added, helpfully.

"See?" Ian set Dotty down and gave her a playful swat on the rear. "Go show your dad how safe it is."

She took off like she was shot out of a cannon before her daddy could say no, and the twins grinned over at Shawn.

"We'll watch her. Honest."

They took off after her and Shawn shook his head, much to Ian and the others' amusement.

"She doesn't have very good balance, Ian."

"Then she falls off."

"It's not that simple," Shawn growled, looking and sounding a lot like Jack just then. "She's a little girl."

"She's tough," Ian said, shrugging. "And I know that yesterday freaked you out, but you still have to let her live."

"But-"

"He's right, Shawn," River told him. "You start being ultra-protective now and _she's_ going to suffer for it later."

Shawn watched silently as one of the wranglers put a helmet on Dotty's head and tightened it, tapping her on the head with his hand and saying something that he couldn't hear but that made his little girl giggle. He then put her up into the pony's saddle and made sure her feet were in the stirrups.

"What do I do next time, Ian?" Shawn asked, softly, not turning away from watching as the pony started moving at a slow walk and Dotty squealed with delight. "What happens if they come after me here at home where there's no Guardian program to save the day?"

"There isn't going to be a next time," Ian told him, just as softly, even though there wasn't anyone around but the three of them. "We're going to take the initiative on this one, Adams."

"You have a plan, yet?"

"Almost." He shrugged, and slapped Shawn on the shoulder, shaking the gloomy mood that had suddenly popped up amongst them. "For now, though, I'm going to enjoy the fact that my kids can ride and I don't have to worry about them falling on their heads."

Shawn frowned again.

"Thanks."

"What are friends for?"


	25. Chapter 25

"How's your stomach?"

Jack sighed, leaning back against the cushion of the couch and pulled Sam into a hug.

"I might have had a little too much ice cream…"

Sam raised an eyebrow.

"Ice cream?"

He rolled his eyes.

"And potato salad."

"And?"

"Cake…"

"And…?"

"_Sam_…"

"I warned you…"

"I know."

"You grazed your way through the entire afternoon."

"I know."

"I told you your stomach would be upset."

"I know."

"You're not as young as-"

"Ian and River ate _twice_ what I did – and Shawn-"

"If they jumped off a bridge eating a Big Mac, would you?"

Jack scowled.

"You know, you _used_ to be a lot more sympathetic… I think motherhood has jaded you."

Sam smiled, leaning against him and kissing his cheek softly.

"Or it's made me more _practical_."

He smiled and she sighed.

"Did you talk to Ian, yet?"

"About what?"

"The Ashrak problem," Sam clarified. "It will probably take a while for Frenush to realize that this group failed, too, but it's going to happen eventually and then he's going to send new ones."

Jack shook his head.

"I doubt he's thought much about it," he said. "Or rather, he probably _has_, but probably hasn't put anything in stone, yet."

"You'll see, though, before he goes back to Atlantis?"

"I'll talk to him, sure." He smiled. "It's not like he would be able to just go off and attack them, though – even assuming he disregarded everything we talked about and the fact that he's under orders not to. He said he'd need the _Cassandra_, and to get her, he'd need Air Force authority."

"Unless of course he decided he needed Atlantis and picked the entire city up and took it. Remember, Atlantis has more fire power than any other platform."

"He wouldn't do that."

"No. I'm just pointing out that he doesn't _really_ need to get permission if he decided for some reason he'd be better off not getting us involved."

Jack had to agree that she was right, but he knew Ian – and so did she – and they knew he wouldn't do something like that. Luckily.

"I'll make sure to talk to him before we go."

They were flying back to DC that night. While it was nice to have a bit of family and friends time, he was still President, and couldn't be gone for long, after all. The same with Nathan, who was flying back with Maggie on a separate flight as was standard procedure. He knew that Maggie was going to talk to Ian and Cassie about taking the twins (and Alexander if they'd allow it) back with them to have some time with them.

"And you'll remember to let me know what he says?"

"Yes."

"Good."

Sam intended to see Ian before they left, but she didn't see him very often, and she wanted to have a relaxed conversation with him. She'd let Jack handle the serious stuff this time.

OOOOOOOOOO

"You know… there's probably a formula for this…"

Ian snorted, looking over at Cassandra. Both of them were watching as the twins sat at the table, slowly falling asleep while trying to finish their cake and ice cream.

"Where x would be the amount of sugar needed to overcome y which is the amount of sleepiness that comes with a long day of excitement?"

She smiled as Michael's head bobbed, his eyes closing just as he took a bite of chocolate ice cream. He was almost asleep; the spoon was sliding in his grip, melted ice cream dripping down the handle and his hand, but he manfully jerked his eyes open and sat up, reflexively swallowing the ice cream before his head bobbed again and his eyes closed.

"Something like that."

Dotty had long ago been carried off to her bedroom, and Nia hadn't been far behind.

"I'd say they've had more than enough of x," he said, handing a sleeping Alexander over to her. "I'm going to put them in with Dotty and Nia for now."

"Clean them up, first."

"Of course."

He started for the table, and was joined by Andrew as he reached out and took Carter's spoon from him.

"Want some help?"

"It's going to be messy," he warned.

Andrew grinned.

"I don't mind."

Ian nodded and Andrew eased the spoon out of Michael's failing grasp. The boy opened his eyes as Andrew picked him up, but his head dropped onto Andrew's shoulder almost immediately, smearing both of them with sodden cake crumbs and a lot of melted ice cream.

"I told you," Ian said, grinning even though Carter had done the same thing to him. He was used to it, after all.

Andrew shrugged and followed Ian into the bathroom where the New Yorker propped Carter up with one hand and pulled the boy's shirt off with the other. Then it was a simple matter of using a warm wet cloth to wipe ice cream and other goo from his face neck and hands. Then he traded spots with Andrew who had already followed his example and stripped Michael's shirt off so he could get cleaned up as well. He wasn't as smooth and competent as Ian, but the boy never opened his eyes through the gentle ministrations. Clearly y had overcome x finally.

"So… any idea what we can do about the Ashrak?" Andrew asked, when Ian finished wiping Michael's face.

The New Yorker nodded an affirmative, but didn't say anything as he picked up his son and gestured for Andrew to get Carter. Andrew was far too used to following Ian's lead to argue with him. Instead he picked the boy up and followed him into Dotty's room where Ian put them both into bed. Andrew hid a grin when he watched Ian kiss the two – and then pressed kisses against Dotty and Nia's cheeks, too. What a softy!

Ian scowled, telling Andrew he hadn't hid the smile well enough.

"Come on." He closed the door firmly behind them, and nodded to the Secret Service agent that was Nia's primary protector. The woman nodded back, telling him that she'd let him know when – if – the boys woke up.

"You're worried that they might have heard something?" Andrew asked.

"They would have heard it," Ian said. "_And_ would have remembered it."

"You're sure?"

"I always did."

Good point.

"So what are we going to do about the Ashrak?"

"I'm still working on it, Andrew," Ian told him. "But we definitely need to make sure Shawn's family is safe while we figure it out."

"How?"

"I'm already on that. Let's go see Shawn."


	26. Chapter 26

They met in Shawn's den – one of the few places that could be secured so that no one other than those who were already in the know would be able to hear what they were discussing. Gina wanted to be there as well and no one denied that she had a right to know what was going on and what was being discussed. Her child and husband had both been in danger, after all. McKay and Ian sat beside each other across from them, and Jack, Sam and Cassie were on the couch, watching Ian since they knew he was going to be the one who started the conversation. Jacob Carter was there, simply because he needed to know if there was going to be some kind of offensive against a Goa'uld, and Nathan was there because no one could tell him he couldn't be. Andrew arrived a minute later, with his black lab following cheerfully behind and River and Chelani bringing up the rear. The Ancient closed the door behind him and Ian stood up – mainly because he was used to standing to give a briefing, and this was what it felt like more than some kind of family chat.

"The problem isn't really the _Goa'uld_," he said without preamble. "The Goa'uld might be pissed at Shawn, but he can't come to Earth and try to get even."

"Which is why he keeps sending the Ashrak," Shawn said.

"Exactly." Ian agreed. "So the Ashrak are the problem here."

"What's the solution?" Sam asked, wondering if he'd already figured one out – even though that would have surprised her. Ian was good, but he was also thorough, and there was no way he'd had a chance to look at the problem from every angle yet. Not with all the other things that had been occupying his time that afternoon.

Sure enough, the New Yorker scowled – not from anger, but annoyance, and not annoyance that was directed at her.

"We don't know, yet," he admitted. "I've got an idea, but I need a bit of time to think through what I learned from the one that we got hold of."

"We don't know how long it's going to be before they come back, though," Gina said, sounding concerned – as well she should be, Ian knew. "What do we do until then? What if-"

"Guardian will keep them out of the SGC," Andrew said, before Shawn could say the exact same thing.

She looked over.

"And if they decide to simply come in some kind of space ship and land on our front lawn? Then what?"

"I thought about that," Ian said, drawing everyone's attention back to him. "What we're going to do is set up another protection here – just in case."

"What kind of protection?" Jack asked.

"Something like a miniature Guardian," Ian replied, looking over at Rodney, who was nodding. "I've already talked to McKay. He's going to stick around here for a couple of days and put it together."

"Yes," Rodney said, standing as well. "We'll want a complete protective net on the neighborhood, but I don't think we'll need to do the entire city…" he looked at Ian. "Do you think we _should_ just cover the entire city?"

Ian shook his head.

"Just the neighborhood should be fine. I'm going to take a little time tomorrow and modify the shield that hides the SGC to also passively scan for any kind of craft that might be trying to sneak into our atmosphere. Guardian will automatically send up an alarm if they come through the gate, now that we know they can try it, and the program I create locks out their only other approach. If they come through the SGC they're toast. If they come in a ship, McKay's program will set off alarms, too, and the Guardian program he sets up will warn you guys – and the SGC so they can mobilize before the Ashrak even have a chance to get set up. McKay can run all the information through this room, if you want."

Gina's tense expression lightened a little, but Shawn's didn't.

"Do you think that'll be enough?"

Ian shrugged.

"It's temporary, Adams," he admitted. "But it's not going to be slip-shod or anything. We're taking this seriously, I promise you."

"I know," Shawn said. "I just…" he looked over at Gina, who caught his hand with her own. "Maybe Gina and Dotty could go somewhere else for a visit…? Until we get something more permanent put into place?"

Gina opened her mouth to say something, but Cassie spoke up first.

"Why not come back to Atlantis with us?"

Ian looked over, and he wasn't the only one.

"What?" Gina asked, surprised by the invitation. She wasn't anyone important, wasn't a scientist or a military specialist in anything and knew very well that she didn't have any particular reason to go offworld when tons of other people were far more qualified to-

"Why not?" Cassie asked. "I know Dotty would like to see where the boys live, and it's as safe as anywhere else – safer than many places, even, now that we don't have the constant Wraith threat looming over us. You guys can come for a visit while Rodney's getting things taken care of here, and come back when it's ready."

Ian looked over at Jack, who shrugged. He didn't have a problem with that solution any more than he had a problem with River's folks being invited to Atlantis.

"I don't see a problem with it," Jack told them. "It's not like there aren't other kids there, so Dotty won't be in the way any more than they are."

"It sounds good to me," Shawn said, looking relieved. He had been thinking of sending them off to visit his dad's parents for a while, but even visiting James' folks wouldn't have taken them anywhere that the Ashrak might not have had a chance to get to them. Atlantis on the other hand… While Shawn knew he could protect his wife and child, he also knew that Ian had inundated Atlantis with more Ancient technology than even the SGC had – after all, it was an Ancient city. No place was as secure.

"But…" Gina didn't like being rushed into things. "How long will we be gone?" she asked.

"I'll have the Guardian up in a matter of days," McKay told her, confidently. "Probably even sooner, really, but that's just an estimate. This place is going to be safer than Fort Knox by the time I'm done with it."

"And the more permanent solution?" she asked, looking at Ian.

He shrugged.

"I've got an idea about that," he told her – and the others. "But it's not set in stone, and it's not something I'm willing to be badgered about just yet."

Which was as nice a way as he could come up with to tell them not to ask him.

"Well?" Cassie asked, looking not at Ian but at Gina. "What do you think?"

Now it was her turn to shrug.

"I have some vacation time coming…" she said, and then she couldn't hide the smile at the sudden realization that she was being invited to _Atlantis_. How could she say no? It wasn't like a vacation to the Grand Canyon, after all. "We accept."

"Great," Cassie smiled. She'd enjoy the company.

"We're probably not going to go until tomorrow night," Ian said, standing up. "I need to take care of the shield – and I want to make sure Rodney understands Guardian before I leave him to making a new version for the house."

"I understand Guardian just fine," McKay told him, sounding offended. "In fact, I probably understand it better than-"

"Hey," Jack interrupted. "Someone bring me a beer. I can't listen to this without something to buffer it."


	27. Chapter 27

"Wow…"

Cassie smiled at her friend's reaction as they walked away from the Stargate, and wondered why they hadn't invited her to come for a visit sooner.

"Impressive, huh?"

"Amazing."

She'd seen all the pictures, of course, and Shawn had described it to her, but he'd never told her how beautiful it was. Unimpressed, Dotty let go of her hand and smiled happily at the man who was walking toward them.

"_John!"_

Colonel Sheppard grinned down at her before swooping her up into his arms.

"Hey, Little Girl. What are you doing invading my floating city?"

"I came to see where the twins live."

"And _me_, too," Sheppard said, smiling over at Gina. "Welcome to Atlantis, Gina. It's about time you came to visit."

"Thank you, John."

He gave her his best smile.

"We set you up in a VIP room as close to Cassie as we could find. Ian told me what was going on and said he'd have it figured out as soon as possible, but it'll be nice to have a little girl hanging around instead of just boys…"

"Stinky boys!" Dotty added.

Sheppard nodded his agreement.

"Sometimes." He set her down and gestured to a couple of Marines who had followed him over. "The twins are with Radek, Cass. He said to let you know they would be on the east pier. Ian's at the mainland right now, but he asked me to let you know he'd be back in time for dinner."

"Thanks, John."

He handed her bags over to the Marines, who would carry them for her and Gina.

"Where is Zander?"

The twins had returned from Earth with their father, but he'd expected the baby to come back with her.

Cassie rolled her eyes.

"You know Ian doesn't like that name."

"He's not here – and I _outrank_ him."

"Maggie wanted to keep them all, but since Dotty was coming here, and the boys wanted to come home – obviously – she settled for keeping Alexander instead."

"Ah. And McKay?"

"He and River will be back tonight, Rodney wanted to stay and make sure the Mini Guardian program is working right." She rolled her eyes. "Ever the perfectionist, after all."

Of course, in this instance it was just as well that he was, since it made Gina less nervous about leaving Shawn back home this way.

Sheppard grinned.

"That comes in handy sometimes, though."

"True."

He smiled down at Dotty again, and tapped her nose cheerfully.

"I need to get back to work. If you need anything, Gina, don't hesitate to ask."

"Thanks, John."

They watched as he walked off, and then Cassie turned to her friend.

"Let's get your stuff put away and then I'll give you a tour."

"Sounds great."

OOOOOOOOOOO

"What are you doing?"

Ian looked up, blocking the sun with his hand, and saw Ronon looming over him.

"Thinking…"

"About the Ashrak?"

"Yeah."

"You should just kill the Goa'uld."

Not surprising, considering who it was coming from. Of course, Ian's first thought had been to do just that, too – and even _River_ had thought the same thing – so it wasn't just Ronon thinking it.

"I can't. I've been ordered away from him. Which means I need to go after the Ashrak, somehow."

"And sitting on the beach staring at the water…? What kind of ideas has that given you?"

It might have sounded like a challenge, but Ian didn't take it as such. He shrugged.

"The Ashrak aren't like us," he said, more to himself. He'd come back before Cassie because he'd needed a chance to think – by himself – and had known that he could leave the twins with one of the scientists while he did just that. The idea of taking a trip to the mainland had been Elizabeth's, and Teyla had mentioned she'd like to go talk to some of those who were settled there, so Ian had willingly taken her with him. Ronon was simply bored and always eager to leave the confines of the city, so he'd invited himself – which was fine with Ian, too. It wasn't like the Satedan was a chatterbox or anything, and he'd seemed to understand that Ian wanted to be alone, but Ian was also good at bouncing things off of others, and Ronon was intelligent enough to be used for that purpose as well. "They're physically different, psychologically different, and physiologically different."

"So?"

"So that's what I need to use against them."

"How?"

"I'm not sure." He scowled. "It has to be doable, though." He suddenly remembered something he'd heard, and the scowl turned into a thoughtful frown. "It's _been_ done…" he murmured, suddenly standing up and brushing sand off his pants.

"What do you mean?" Ronon asked.

"Someone used the Ashrak's differences against them before – as a warning sign if they got too close. I need to find out how they did it."

"Who?"

"I'm not sure. I need to ask Jack, I think." He looked over at the Gateship that he'd flown them in. "Are you ready to head back?"

"I am. Teyla isn't." He could see that Ian was itching to go, though, and shrugged. "I'll stay here with her – just in case she needs anything. You go ahead."

Ian nodded, understanding what he was doing and giving him an appreciative smile.

"Thanks."

"Just don't forget to send someone back for us," Ronon called to him as he turned toward the ship.

Ian just waved his arm in acknowledgement and trotted over to the Gateship.


	28. Chapter 28

Because of who he was, getting what he needed wasn't as impossible for him as it might have been for someone else. Of course, it wasn't easy – especially since he refused to say why he needed to do what he was planning – but less than an hour after he'd left Ronon on the beach, Ian was landing a Gateship in the special grove of trees behind the White House that were designated for just that purpose. Surprisingly, Jack was actually standing just on the edge of the grove, with Sam and Murray both standing beside him. Ranged around them were the usual Secret Service agents, as well as Chelani, who was a short distance to the side. Ian could see Sam's smile as soon as the ramp lowered, and Murray's tail was in constant state of wagging, but Jack wasn't smiling.

"There's no leftover cake left," Jack told him as he walked over. Despite the light greeting, he looked tense, and Ian could understand why. He hadn't told anyone why he was coming, and he knew Jack didn't like surprises.

"You told me the cake was gone before the party was over…"

"I lied." Before Ian could do more than scowl, though, he spoke up again. "What's going on, Ian? Why the cloak and dagger?"

"There's no cloak and dagger," Ian objected. "I just needed to ask you something face to face."

"Our communications are pretty secure," Sam said.

"What did you want to ask?" Jack asked him, before she could get them off subject.

"You told me once that you got a bad headache that time the Ashrak came to the Academy looking for Shawn…"

POTUS frowned, thinking back on that.

"Yeah, I did."

"It was really bad," Sam told Ian. "Why do you ask?"

"Because you guys made it sound like it was a warning for you," he answered. "A way to know they were there."

"It couldn't have been a coincidence," Jack said. "But I didn't get it this last time – _or_ when they came when he was a little boy. It was just that once."

"If it was a way to know they were there, then it was based on their physiology," Ian told them. "Theirs and maybe something in yours. It has to be something we can use."

"If we knew what 'it' was," Sam pointed out. "_We_ didn't have anything to do with giving Jack the headache, after all."

The New Yorker looked over at Chelani.

"It had to be the Ancients, then…"

Chelani shrugged, and shook his head.

"I'm afraid I don't know have a clue what you are talking about."

"It was a bit before your time," Sam told him with a smile. She turned back to Ian. "If it was Dotty then there really isn't anything we can do to find out how she did it…"

"There's a _way_," Ian countered. "Just not a really _safe_ way."

"What do you mean?" Jack asked.

"You're _not_ going to skip realities, Ian," Sam said, suddenly, realizing that had to be what he was considering.

"There had to be more realities where they used the headache to warn other Jacks about the Ashrak," Ian said. "If we could find one-"

"Ian," Jack interrupted. "No. No reality skipping. Not for anything."

"But-"

"Cassie was beside herself the last time," Jack told him, scowling. "We managed to get you back that time, I'm not going to risk it again. Not for information, not for _anything_. Understand?"

The New Yorker tried to think of an argument he could use to get Jack to change his mind, but O'Neill knew him well enough to know exactly the right argument of his own. There was no way Ian would upset Cassie – not on purpose. He sighed, but nodded. He hadn't really wanted to go reality skipping anyway; it had just been his first idea. He'd just need to come up with others. Better and hopefully safer ideas. Which was fine, since that had been the whole reason for risking a flight back to Earth – and to Washington – in the first place. Dotty wasn't the only Ancient, after all, and he hadn't come to talk to Chelani.

"Maybe the Asgard – or the Tok'ra – might have an idea…?" Sam suggested, looking at him, intently. Probably trying to decide if he looked like he was going to argue. Or try something dumb the moment he was gone.

Knowing this – and knowing that she would worry – he managed to force a slight smile, trying to reassure her that he wasn't going to do anything dumb. Ian was well beyond being impetuous, after all.

"I'll have to ask them, then," he said. Then he knelt down and Murray stuck his head into Ian's hand, cheerfully. Ian stroked his head, rubbing his ears, and smiling at the young lab. "Or someone else?" he murmured, softly, the words for the lab alone.

Murray licked his face before Ian could move his head, and he stood up, wiping his face.

"You staying the night?" Jack asked. "Maggie won't give you Zander back, yet, you know…"

"Nah. I need to get back." The sooner he got done with flying around, the better as far as he was concerned. "Let me know if you think of anything else that might help, though, okay?"

"Will do."

"And you owe me cake."

Jack grinned, and waved him off, like shooing away a pesky fly.

"Get out of here, Colonel, or I'll tell the Secret Service you're trying to infiltrate them with Ancients. Oh wait…"

Ian rolled his eyes.

"I'm going, I'm going."

Jack called Murray back over to him as Ian got back into the Gateship, and just to be sure, he held the lab's collar tightly. He was far too familiar with puppies to believe that simple training would keep him out of trouble and a moving Gateship was definitely potential trouble for his baby.

"What do you think?" he asked Sam as the Gateship went invisible and they could feel the air pressure changing around them as Ian lifted off and was gone in an instant.

"I'll fill Chelani in on last time," she told him, looking over at the Ancient, who had fallen into step beside them as they started back toward the House. "Maybe we can think of something that might help him."

"Or someone."

"Right."

"How about some cake before you get started?"

She smiled.

"I thought you told Ian it was all gone?"

"I _lied_."


	29. Chapter 29

"Are you going to tell us now why you came back so suddenly?" Rodney asked, pushing the coffee pot over to Ian before sitting back down on the couch in Shawn's 'man cave'. He had already poured himself a second cup, and River and Shawn were both nursing their own, but were watching him intently, curious as well.

"I had a question about the Ashrak," Ian told them, pouring his coffee into a mug that proclaimed Shawn as the World's Number One Dad. "I remembered hearing – or reading – that when the group that came after you when you were a little kid arrived on the planet, Jack got a really bad headache, and that it was apparently some kind of warning for him that the Ashrak were there. So I was hoping he knew how it happened, to see if it was something we could use…"

"And was it?" River asked.

"He didn't know and neither did Sam."

"How about Chelani?" Shawn suggested.

"I asked. He didn't know anything about it."

"Well, no real reason that he would," Rodney pointed out. "He didn't have anything to do with it, after all."

"But he was ascended for a while, so I had hoped maybe he'd picked something up…"

Shawn smiled and shook his head.

"I doubt it works that way."

"Yeah, me too. It was just a shot in the dark." Ian leaned back into the cushion of the couch. "What about you guys? Are you set up here?"

McKay nodded.

"This place is Fort Knox now," he said, smugly. "Nothing can get within miles of here without setting off the Miniature Guardian program, and anything that is under cloak – except for the Gateships – will immediate lose their cloaking and be visible."

"Nice."

"Of course it is. I thought about putting in an automatic gunnery system, but figured that would be a bit much for a residential neighborhood."

Which caused Ian to smirk.

"You think?" he asked, sarcastically.

Rodney looked over at him, his expression curious.

"You don't?"

River snorted, amused at how neatly McKay was screwing with Ian. Not a lot of people did – especially those on Atlantis – so it was good for him to have someone willing to do it occasionally. Ian scowled at him, and pointedly refused to reply to that. Instead, he looked at Shawn.

"Gina and Dotty are settled in at Atlantis, but hopefully that makes Gina feel better when they come back."

"It's a lot more than I could have expected," Shawn replied, but he was looking at them all. "Thanks for the help."

"This is mostly Rodney," Ian told him, taking another sip of his coffee. "So he's the one to thank. You can thank _me_ once I figure out how to take care of the Ashrak themselves." Before Shawn could say anything, the New Yorker stood up. "I'm heading back to Atlantis."

"You can stay here tonight and go back in the morning if you want," Shawn offered. "There's plenty of room."

Ian shook his head.

"I'm going to sleep in my own bed tonight."

"Want company?" River asked.

Since he hadn't moved from his ultra comfortable position in the easy chair, Ian knew he didn't have any desire to go anywhere just then – and since Jessica was asleep in Dotty's bed, he had even more reason not to.

"Nah. I'll see you tomorrow sometime."

"Sometime after noon," River told him, cheerfully. "I'm going to sleep in tomorrow."

"Rodney?"

"I'll go back with Hayden," the astrophysicist told him. "I want to check a couple more sensors in the morning."

Ian figured he was more interested in getting in a couple more meals at fast food places than he was double-checking work that was almost certainly done correctly the first time, but he didn't argue. Instead he said his goodbyes and rinsed his coffee cup out before heading out to the car he'd borrowed from the base.

River looked over at Shawn.

"Are you sure you don't want to just take a few days and visit Atlantis?"

"I've visited there before," he reminded his friend. "Besides, Gina will have fun having some girl-only time with Cassie and Dotty."

"And Ian and the twins and Sheppard and Ronon and-"

"We get it," River said, interrupting McKay before he could name every male in the city. He shrugged. "If you change your mind, though, just come on over."

"I'll let you know."

OOOOOOOOOO

General Alan Hunt frowned. "I expected you'd want to spend the night at Shawn's."

Ian shook his head.

"Adams doesn't have any information I can use, unfortunately."

"What are you going to do, then?"

The New Yorker sighed, more frustrated than anything else, and leaned against the side of the Gateship that they were standing by.

"I'm not sure, to be honest. I've got a ton of information about the Ashrak, though, so there has to be some way for me to use it to keep them from making another try on Shawn – and incidentally keeping them away from Earth and the SGC."

"Well, if there's anything we can do to help, just let me know – short of assassinating that Goa'uld, of course."

Ian gave him a wry smile and offered him his hand.

"I'll let you know if I think of anything."

"You do that."

Hunt stepped back and headed for the entrance to the mountain, while Ian went up the ramp at the rear of the craft and engaged the cloak once more before he lifted off and headed for the opening that would let him drop down into the embarkation room. Only when he was sure the ship understood they were leaving did he dare take a hand off the controls long enough to tap the communications control.

"_SGC Flight, this is Gateship 3, requesting embarkation room permission."_

His way of letting them know he was dropping in on them and they should clear out anyone that didn't want to do an imitation of a dung beetle under the hooves of a wildebeest.

"_Gateship 3, this is SGC Flight, you are cleared for embarkation."_

"_Thank you, Flight."_ He tapped in the address for Atlantis with practiced ease and could hear the Airman at the SGC communications advising Atlantis through the now open gate that they were sending a Gateship through. Only when he heard Grodin's reply from Atlantis did give the ship the command for them to head into the embarkation room, and even though it was the shortest of all Gateship flights he still couldn't help the death grip he had on the controls – and didn't bother to try since there wasn't anyone in the craft to see it. A moment later he saw the embarkation room come into view, with the gate glowing and waiting for him and his ship, and then he was heading into it and he didn't see anything, and didn't feel anything.

Suddenly he was through. And frowned as the bright sunlight nearly blinded him. The Gateship settled itself on the soft sand under them, and Ian stared at the vista in front of him – a vista that didn't include Atlantis' control room. Endless sand and far off rock outcroppings, that led to even more distant mountains under a brilliant blue sky that had at least two moons hovering low on the horizon.

Before he could even say the swear word that was forming both on his lips and automatically in his mind, two forms stepped into view in front of the ship. And he grinned instead, standing up and immediately turning for the rear of the Gateship. He slapped the control to open the ramp and found the two were waiting for him there.

"Greetings, Ian Brooks," Alexander said, stepping forward and looking at him with interest.

"Alexander," he said, his smile genuinely pleased. He gave the Ancient a slight bow, knowing that it was their custom. His smile only slightly faded when he turned to the other Ancient, but he was no less happy to see her – and had almost expected it. "Dotty. It's good to see you. Both of you."


	30. Chapter 30

The two Ancients frowned slightly.

"You don't seem all that surprised to see us," Alexander said.

"I'm _surprised_," Ian told him. "But I had hoped that you'd make an appearance somehow. I didn't exactly expect my gate to be hijacked, but considering that it's happened to me before, it's not as much of a shock this time." He looked over at Dotty, who was watching him intently, even curiously. "And I didn't expect to be in a different reality…"

They didn't show any surprise that he'd figured that out himself; after all, Dotty was dead in his reality and most likely they knew that.

"Dotty is the one who altered Jack O'Neill's mind," Alexander replied. "Since I have no idea what she did – and neither does my alternate in your reality – there was no sense in him talking to you."

"Am I alive in this reality?" Ian asked, morbidly curious.

"No. So there won't be any uncomfortable reaction to you being here."

"Not that we will keep you any longer than necessary, at any rate," Dotty told him.

"Tell me that you did something to keep the people waiting for me in Atlantis from worrying…"

That was actually more important to him than any discomfort to himself.

"We haven't yet, but we _will_," Alexander assured him. "We'll make it so that no time at all has gone by between when you left Earth and arrived at your home."

Ian nodded his appreciation of that, and then looked back to Dotty.

"So you altered Jack's mind?"

"Well, not the same Jack that lives in your reality, but yes, that's what I did to make him aware of the Ashrak menace when Shawn was a child."

"How?"

"It's not something you can do, Ian," Dotty told him. "It's an ability of my people-"

"I learned to heal," he interrupted.

"It's not the same," Dotty said. "And you didn't learn it overnight, I imagine."

"Tell me how it's different."

"Only the _females_ have the innate ability, Ian," Alexander told him, patiently. "No male could ever do what Dotty did – and there's no way that she could teach you how to do it. Not only because you're not Ancient, but also because you're not female."

The hope Ian had felt when he'd first realized that he'd been accosted by Ancients faded, and it must have shown in his expression, because Dotty gave him a sympathetic look – one that made him think of her alternate self in his reality.

"Don't look so down, Ian," Dotty told him, reaching out and putting her hand on his forearm. "It's not hopeless. Otherwise we wouldn't be here."

"What do you mean?"

"Come with us," Alexander told him, moving toward the front of the Gateship once more – this time on the other side. Ian followed, with Dotty walking beside him, and saw that they had a small pavilion set up, complete with four low-slung chairs all around a small table that held glasses and a pitcher of something light red. Two of the glasses were already being used – no doubt by Dotty and Alexander – but the others were empty.

"_Four_ chairs?" Ian asked, curiously, as he sat in the chair Alexander beckoned to.

"We weren't sure if you were going to be alone," Dotty explained. She didn't say any more than that, though, and Ian let the subject drop. She filled his glass for him and Alexander leaned forward slightly in his chair as she sat in hers.

"Tell us about the Ashrak," he requested.

"Don't you already know a-"

"The Ashrak are a very secretive people," Alexander interrupted. "We don't know as much as you might think we do – and it's better that you just _assume_ we don't know anything, to make sure you don't skip over something that might help us."

That made sense, really. Assured that no one back home was worrying about him, he leaned back in his chair and told them everything that had happened since he'd left Atlantis for Shawn's birthday party.

"So you used one of the devices that had been left to you and managed to get into the mind of the Ashrak?" Dotty asked him when he'd finished.

"Yes."

"And with your memory, you remember what you see there," Alexander said.

Ian nodded, even though it was more of a statement than a question.

"That's how we figured out who the Goa'uld was that was sending the Ashrak."

"My initial thought would be to simply send someone back to when Shawn created the device and destroy it before the Goa'uld finds it," Alexander said. "The problem with that is that then you run the risk of changing your relationship with Shawn – considering that the Ashrak attack at the Academy is the way you two start to bond."

"Yeah, we can't risk anything in the past getting changed," Ian replied.

"And Jack has decided that the Goa'uld is off-limits for assassination?" Dotty asked so matter-of-factly that Ian knew suddenly why the Ancients were so willing to help him with something that didn't even include their reality. Dotty – _any_ Dotty – was a mother, and her son (_and_ granddaughter, now) was in danger. She could – and would – be ruthless in protecting Shawn, even when it wasn't officially _her_ Shawn that needed the help.

"Yes. The concern being that it'll cause more trouble than it will solve by leaving a void in the Goa'uld presence in that area."

"Understandable," Alexander murmured, even though Dotty looked slightly rebellious and Ian knew that she, at least, was all for the assassination of the Goa'uld as an easy fix to the problem. "I don't think the solution to the Ashrak problem lies in the Ashrak, though," he told Ian.

"No?"

"No. From what you say, they are practically bred to kill – and definitely would react aggressively if you were to threaten them. Aggressively enough that it wouldn't be prudent to try to change their minds about accepting the bounty on Shawn."

"I can't go after the Goa'uld, though."

"You can't _kill_ the Goa'uld," Alexander corrected him. "Jack didn't say you couldn't go talk to him – and maybe teach him the errors of his ways… Get him to stop the bounty altogether."

Ian frowned. He wasn't concerned about getting to the Goa'uld. But handled wrong, it could cause a lot more problems than just attempts on Shawn.

"And if that doesn't do the trick?"

"Then you use _this_." Alexander gestured to Dotty, who reached down behind her chair and handed him a small wooden box, which he handed over to Ian. The New Yorker opened it and frowned at the little device that was set into a form-fitting mold inside the box.

"What is it?"

"A device that will enhance the one you already have – the one that lets you see into a person's mind. With that one, you can find his memory of why he hates Shawn... and with _this_ one, you can erase it."

Ian looked up at Alexander.

"_Erase_ it?"

The Ancient nodded.

"Completely."


	31. Chapter 31

The thought of holding something with that kind of power was more than a little disconcerting, and it must have showed in his expression, because both Ancients looked satisfied.

"It's not something to take lightly, Ian," Dotty told him. "But it's also safer than you might be thinking."

"Yeah?" He couldn't keep the doubt out of his voice – or his expression.

"Yes," she said, far more amused than defensive. "You have to consciously activate it – it _won't_ go off before you're ready, and it won't target _anyone_ but the Goa'uld Frenush so there's no chance that you can hurt someone else."

"Including yourself," Alexander added.

"You're sure of that?"

"We wouldn't be offering it to you if we weren't," Dotty said.

That was a good point.

"You won't be able to use it on anyone else," Alexander added. He gave Ian a slight smile. "Not that we expect that _you're_ even interested in doing anything like that, but it's definitely something that you can pass on to Jack O'Neill and anyone else who you need to talk to about using it. That way they won't have to worry about someone stealing it from you and going rogue as they say."

"I've never even heard of anything like it," Ian said, still looking at the device. "Not on even in the Atlantis databases."

"It's not _Ancient_," Dotty told him. "But you'll be able to use it the same way you would use an Ancient device, never fear."

"Not Ancient?"

He couldn't even think of any other race of beings he'd heard of that might be able to pull off a device like the one he was holding.

"No."

"Then who?"

"_That_ would be telling," Alexander said, his eyes glinting with humor despite their serious conversation. "And they are a shy race, so we'll respect their wishes and not share that information. They were willing to allow us this technology, though, and we're sharing it with you. You shouldn't have any trouble using it."

"And when _you're_ done, _it's_ done," Dotty added. "It can't be set to target anyone else – and it won't work for anyone but you. You can destroy it and forget about it."

"Just like that?"

"Just like that."

"And you guys think this is our best shot?"

Dotty shook her head.

"_I_ think your best shot is to assassinate Frenush. _He's_ the danger to Shawn and his family – far more than the Ashrak. But since that isn't going to be allowed, then we think this is the second best route."

Alexander nodded his agreement.

"The hard part will be convincing Jack O'Neill and your other superiors to allow you to use it, I expect."

That was an understatement. Ian smiled, though, and stood up.

"You're right, so I'd better get started." He hesitated, looking at them. "I can't thank you enough for this…"

"You don't have to," Alexander said, standing as well.

"Just take care of things," Dotty told him. "And stay safe, if you can."

"I will." He looked back to the Gateship. "You'll get me to Atlantis just when I left?"

"Yes."

"Okay."

OOOOOOOOOOO

Dr. Cassandra Brooks was in the commissary, sitting at a table with Gina and Dotty, as well as her twins and Teyla, who was enchanted by Dotty's sunny personality. It was dinnertime and Michael and Carter were telling Dotty all the things that they could do the next day. Teyla was just getting ready to suggest a trip to the mainland when Sheppard came up to the table with an odd expression on his face.

"Hey Cass… got a message for you."

"From Ian?"

"Yeah. He just came through the gate."

"Is he okay?"

Sheppard smiled, reassuring her.

"Yeah. But he turned around and left again, and wanted me to tell you he was going back to Earth."

"Why would he do that?"

"He said he'd explain later, he just asked me to let you know so you wouldn't worry."

"He probably forgot to bring us presents," Carter said, looking hopeful.

Cassie smiled, although there was a trace of concern in her expression.

"Maybe."

"It's probably nothing, Cass," Sheppard told her, his hand on her shoulder briefly. "We don't have any indication that anything is wrong at the SGC – and you know they would have let us know."

That much was true, she knew. She nodded.

"You're probably right."

"Come on," he said, deciding that she definitely needed a distraction. "Why don't we take the kids and show Dotty and Gina the game room?"

Michael and Carter immediately reacted positively to that, which made Dotty think that it could only be a good thing. She immediately dropped the spoon she was holding and looked at Sheppard, hopefully.

"Can we?"

Gina looked over to Cassie, who smiled. There was no way she was going to say no to Dotty when it was something so easy. It wasn't like she was asking to go bungee jumping or something, after all.

"Sure."

OOOOOOOOOO

"_Do I even want to know why you're back here, Colonel?"_ General Hunt asked Ian.

"Something came up, Sir. I need to go back to DC."

_"Something came up in 2 minutes?"_

Even over the radio Ian could hear the sarcasm in Hunt's voice, and he could easily imagine the expression on his face.

"It's a long story, sir. I'll explain it as soon as I can."

There was a short pause, probably while Hunt was thinking things over – or maybe just scowling at the tech who was sitting at the gate computer.

_"Fine. You're cleared to go. I'll call ahead and let DC know you're coming."_

"Thank you, sir."

_"Anything else?"_

More sarcasm, but Ian wasn't done.

"Yes, sir. I'm going to need Cassandra."

Another pause.

_"Considering you just came from Atlantis, I'm assuming you're not talking about your wife…"_

"No, sir."


	32. Chapter 32

_Author's Note: To answer a review question, the Cassandra is the ship Ian developed for the SGC, using his new drive, which is acronymed with FTS. You'll have to go look at the story to see what that stands for, haha._

OOOOOO

It was a bleary-eyed and slightly annoyed looking Jack O'Neill who walked into the private living room of the White House less than two hours later. Behind him was an equally disheveled looking Samantha O'Neill, but rather than looking annoyed, she looked slightly concerned and more than a little curious. Murray walked in with Sam, saw Ian and immediately went over for some late night loving – which Ian was willing to give him.

"Is there a _reason_ you can't seem to go home, Colonel?" Jack asked. "Did you and Cassie have a fight or something?"

Sam smiled and poked her head out the door, and Ian could hear her asking someone to bring coffee. Jack settled himself with a sigh on the couch, but Murray hopped up into the easy chair that Ian had seated himself in, clearly wanting more attention and figuring Ian was a better bet to give it to him.

"Cassandra and I are fine, Jack."

"Then why are you keeping me up? I thought you were going home."

"I did. Or at least I started to. But on the way something came up and I met up with a couple of people who thought they might have a solution for our Ashrak problem."

"On the way home?" Jack asked, frowning. "You mean you met them in the skies over Kansas?"

"Nope." Ian might have let Jack flounder just a little – who was more fun to tweak than the President, after all – but Sam wasn't as sleepy as Jack, and she spoke up as she sat down beside him on the couch.

"Between the SGC and Atlantis?"

Ian nodded.

"They hijacked my gate."

"Ancients?" Jack asked, his gaze suddenly a lot more intense.

"Dotty," Ian confirmed. "And another one."

"What did they say?" Sam asked, leaning forward.

"They wanted to know about the Ashrak," he replied. "And what we were planning on doing to keep them away from Shawn."

"This wasn't _our_ Dotty, though, right?" Jack asked. "What I mean is, she-"

"Our Dotty's dead, Jack," Ian told him. He knew Jack was trying to be delicate, but he was older, now, and didn't need to be cushioned when anyone mentioned Shawn's mom. While he still felt her death was his fault, it wasn't as raw a wound as it once had been. "This one was from a different reality."

"What did she want?" Sam asked again.

"The same thing all of them seem to want," Ian answered, rubbing Murray's ears. "She wants Shawn – and now _little_ Dotty –to be safe. And they wanted to know what we'd figured out and how we were planning on making that happen."

"And what did you tell her?"

"I told them what I'd learned about the Ashrak, and that we weren't allowed to go after Frenush to keep him from sending more of them."

"I bet that went over well."

Ian shrugged.

"They're not naïve enough to not see the reasoning behind that," he said. "They-"

He was cut off by a gentle knock on the door and the arrival of a Marine Corporal in dress uniform, carrying a tray with a pot of coffee, three cups and saucers, and a plate with some cookies on it. Ian wasn't surprised to see another small saucer with a couple of dog treats on it for Murray. The Marine set the tray down on the coffee table and asked if there was anything else that he could do for them. When Jack thanked him but said no, the young man left them to their conversation and closed the door behind him to give them their privacy.

"They what, Ian?" Jack asked, reaching for the coffee pot and pouring a cup for Sam before turning his attention back to the New Yorker.

"They – at least Dotty – thinks that assassination is the best bet, but she came up with an alternative for me. One that still makes Frenush the main target of our solution, but doesn't leave him dead."

"Oh?"

"Why don't you tell us the whole story, Ian?" Sam suggested. "That way we don't miss something important."

Ian nodded and did just that; telling them what had happened since he'd left them, and showing them the device that Dotty had given him once he got to that part of the story. Jack didn't want to touch it, but Sam took it from Ian and studied it with the interest born of a scientist.

"Are you sure about this?"

Ian shrugged.

"_They_ were. That's good enough for me." He looked at Jack. "I asked General Hunt to get _Cassandra_ ready – just in case – but you know this is your call…"

O'Neill scowled.

"How are you planning on getting close enough to Frenush to actually use that thing?"

"_Cassandra_ has a cloak. We can find out where he is from Jacob, sneak in and get me close enough to get to him. I'll wait until he's alone and then beam in, use the first device to freeze him and then get into his head and then the new one to wipe his memory of Shawn's trick and everything I can find associated with it."

"But there's no way to make sure the thing will work," Sam said. "And obviously it's not something you can practice with."

"Even if I wanted to I couldn't. But it's definitely not something to play with, that's for sure."

"I don't like it," Jack told him.

"Do you like worrying about Shawn being caught by invisible assassins?"

Which earned him another scowl. Before O'Neill could snap at him, Sam spoke up again.

"It isn't much of a plan, Ian."

Ian scowled, too, but then he nodded.

"I know. I only learned about the thing a couple hours ago. If you guys have a better plan I'm all ears."

Jack sighed, and leaned back against the cushions of the couch, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Let us sleep on it," he finally said. "It's earlier on Atlantis, so you go home and talk to your people over there and see if they come up with anything better than what you have. I'll have Hunt do the same with his people – with the option of using _Cassandra_ if it comes to it."

Ian nodded, and Sam handed the Ancient device back to him.

"That'll work."

He hadn't expected the plan to go completely without comment, after all. It was just the first plan he'd thought of – and at that it wasn't really that bad of a plan. But there were a lot of bright military minds both on Atlantis and at the SGC, so it would be better to see what they might come up with.

"Make sure you have Hunt call in Hailey and her senior officers. Aside from yourself, she knows what _Cassandra_ can do more than anyone. We're going to want her to be in on whatever we come up with – since it will almost certainly involve their ship."

"Sounds good."

"Good." Jack stood up. "Now go home and let me get some sleep."

Ian snorted, stood up and snagged the plate of cookies just as O'Neill was reaching for one. He tossed a vanilla cookie to Murray, who snagged it in mid air and gobbled it down before Jack could tell him no.

"Hey, those are my-"

"You don't want to eat so much sugar before bedtime, Jack," Ian told him. "It'll keep you up all night."

He gave them both a half salute, marred by an impish grin, and left the room, whistling cheerfully.

"Did you see that? He stole my cookies…"

Sam smiled, hooking her arm through his, amused at how easily Ian teased him when most of the people that surrounded them were so very respectful to Jack's status as President. It was good for them both.

"We can get you more. Besides," she said as they walked toward the opposite door from where Ian had left. "You know he won't eat them any time soon. If he does, he'll prove the old saying of tossing your cookies."

There was a snicker as Jack realized she was right. He squeezed her hand and they headed off for bed.

Again.


	33. Chapter 33

"Seriously?" Rodney scowled out the porthole of Cassandra for a moment before turning back to Ian. "Two weeks, the most brilliant military minds in the world, and this is the best idea we could come up with?"

"It's a _good_ plan, Rodney," the New Yorker told him.

"_If_ he shows."

"He'll show. Goa'uld are nothing if not predictable. The message Jacob sent will get him to the ambush site."

"Him and a million Jaffa."

Ian snorted.

"He doesn't _have_ a million Jaffa. Best guess is there's several hundred – and there's no way they'll all be there. Probably he'll bring a couple ships – and none of them will be a match for anything _Cassandra_ can throw at them."

"You hope."

"Frenush is a minor system lord, Dr. McKay," a voice said from the doorway. "He doesn't have the resources to build a fleet – much less a single ship as formidable as _Cassie_."

The two men turned and Ian gave a nod of welcome to Jennifer Hailey, _Cassandra's_ commanding officer. Her normally stern features softened when she returned that nod with a slight smile, but she was all business again when she sat down in the chair next to McKay's.

"You don't know that for sure, though, do you?" Rodney challenged.

"Yes, we do. Jacob Carter double checked for us."

McKay scowled and looked over at Ian.

"When did I miss _that_?"

"Final briefing," Ian told him. "You were too busy gathering your 'munchies for the road'."

"You said you didn't need me."

"We didn't. But that was when it was brought up."

The same time Shawn Adams had tried – again – to be included in the mission. And had once more been told he wasn't going to go. That had been a bit of an argument, but Jack had been the one with the final say and Shawn had been reminded that he'd given an oath to follow orders and that those were his orders. There had been some serious scowling after that, but no outright mutiny.

McKay sniffed, mollified, and then turned to Hailey.

"How long until we get there, Colonel?"

"About half an hour. Are you guys ready?"

Ian nodded.

"We got everything ready before we left Earth, but I'll want to check the Gateship before we leave – just to make sure nothing was damaged."

"I figured you would." She looked at the meal they were finishing. "By the time you're done, we should be at the separation point."

"We'll be ready whenever you give the word," Ian promised.

"Sounds good."

The New Yorker turned his attention back to McKay, clearly waiting for him to continue complaining about the plan, but Rodney just grumbled and picked up his fork. There was no sense complaining now; things were set in motion and one way or the other, they'd see how well the plan worked within the next couple of hours.

They'd sent an obscure message to Frenush – via one of Jacob Carter's operatives – telling him of a power supply that could make him one of the foremost powers amongst the Goa'uld. For the right price, of course. They preyed on the minor system lord's desire for power and status, but they knew that they couldn't make it sound too good to be true and perhaps set off warning bells in the Goa'uld's head, so the message had stated a ridiculously high price for that power source and the demand that Frenush only bring one body guard with him – of his choice. It was the proper demands for the role Ian was going to be playing; the role of a less than savory individual who would sell anything to the person with the most money to offer.

The response hadn't been immediate, but it'd been prompt, and had enough counter-demands in it that they were fairly certain that Frenush was going to come to their little meeting.

OOOOOOOOOOO

Even though _Cassandra_ wasn't a very big ship as far as spacecraft go, the Gateship felt positively cramped in comparison a half an hour later. _Cassandra_ had been brought out of FFTS drive and with very little fuss Ian and McKay had donned space suits and waited at the small airlock while the clamps that held the Gateship in place at the belly of the small ship were released. Ian shot a line over to the Gateship, tethering the ships together once more, while Rodney opened the rear hatch. It would vent all air inside to space, but it wouldn't take long for the Gateship to replenish its air supply, and they'd keep the suits on until it did.

"Everything looks good here, Ian," Rodney reported as they were checking through the systems a short time later.

Ian agreed; he'd designed _Cassandra_ to be able to tote a Gateship – just because you never knew when you might need one – but this was the first time they'd actually used the clamps and he had to admit he was pretty pleased by how smooth it had gone.

"Systems are all in order, too, Rodney," he replied, looking up from the diagnostic he was running. "No sprung seams?"

McKay rolled his eyes.

"There aren't any seams to spring."

Ian toggled the communications lever.

"_Cassandra_, this is _Gateship 3_. We're cleared system checks and ready to begin."

Both McKay and Brooks recognized the person who replied as Hailey's communications officer.

"_Received, _Gateship 3_. We will keep frequencies open to monitor your progress. Good luck."_

"Thanks. _Gateship_ _3_ out."

Ian turned the ship toward _Cassandra_, and they watched as the ship engaged her cloak, vanishing in front of them. Then Ian triggered their own cloak and put his hand on their thrusters.

"Here we go."

"Did I mention this is a crazy plan?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure you did."

"Did I mention you look like that captain from _Firefly_?"

Ian looked down at the outfit he'd changed into once they'd gotten out of the spacesuits and had to admit that he did. Complete with his Glock in its holster on his hip – and not a military holster.

"_You_ don't look much like that mechanic…" he pointed out, gesturing to the outfit McKay had dressed in. It was fairly close to Ian's, but designed to look a little less clean and well kept. He was playing the role of a lackey, after all.

Rodney sniffed.

"I'm cuter than her."

They looked at each other, snickered, and both were grinning as Ian started the Gateship toward the rendezvous spot, _Cassandra_ a silent but protective presence behind them.


	34. Chapter 34

They stopped above the small moon that the meeting was supposed to take place on, hovering in an orbit that would allow them to use the sensors on the Gateship to look for any kind of possible Goa'uld ambush before they actually landed. Ian knew that Hailey was doing the same thing above them, and that if the more powerful equipment on the Cassandra found something Jennifer would let him know about it.

"I don't see anything," McKay said, checking the readings. "He probably isn't going to show."

"He's just being fashionably late," Ian told him. "You know a Goa'uld would rather chop his arm than be seen waiting for anyone. He'll want us to be in place first so he can arrive in suitably impressive and intimidating fashion."

Rodney wanted to argue that, but he knew Ian was probably right.

"So we just land and wait?"

"Just like the plan says."

Of course, they were going to land the Gateship and stand just outside the cloaking field, so Frenush would be able to see them but they would have cover if something went awry. They'd seen plenty of things go wrong, after all, even in the best-laid plans, so they weren't taking any chances.

McKay grumbled about how much room a million Jaffa would take up while Ian found his landing spot, and then shut the Gateship down and opened the back hatch.

"You ready?" he asked McKay, who was fiddling with the tie down on his holster – not something he was used to wearing every day by any means.

"Yeah. You got the ZedPM?"

"Yeah."

The ZPM was the power source they were 'selling' to Frenush. It was a perfect lure, since they were using one that had just enough juice in it to be able to make an impressive display of power if they needed to, but since it was completely alien to the Goa'uld Frenush wouldn't know that. They also didn't have to worry about it falling into the wrong hands, since there was no way it could be integrated with Goa'uld technology, since Ian had added a failsafe – just in case something very bad happened.

The outfits they were wearing had been prepared carefully, making sure they looked appropriately successful but just a little shabby – working on the assumption that Frenush would be less wary if they didn't look too dangerous. The outfits had also been based on clothing from other worlds and the people who had put them together had made sure not to use any of the cloths that were found almost exclusively on Earth. As a result, Ian found himself wearing loose-fitting black leather pants with a white linen shirt tucked into them and boots that looked far more worn than they really were. The holster hung low on his hip, rather like it would look in a Western movie, but Ian had made sure he'd be able to reach it if he needed it. Slung on his other hip, criss-crossing the holster, was a small leather fanny pack that held one of the two devices he'd need. The other was hidden in the palm of his left hand.

Rodney's outfit was similar to Ian's, although his pants were buff colored and his shirt was a bright blue. It _had_ been a bright red shirt, but he'd taken one look at it and said the last thing that he was going to wear on an away mission was a bright red shirt. Ian hadn't caught the reference, but everyone else in the room had, and they'd changed the color without further comment. McKay was also carrying the case that held the ZPM. Both of them had stopped shaving a couple of days before and were suitably stubbled, now.

_"Look alive,"_ Hailey's voice came over the earpieces that they were both wearing. _"We have a Goa'uld ship coming into the area."_

"Just one?"

_"So far."_

They waited outside the cloaking range of the Gateship standing out in the open like they had agreed on.

"I'm assuming they'll ring in," Rodney told him. "So we won't have to worry about them trying anything like landing their ship on us and just taking the case."

"That's a relief," Ian replied, with only a trace of sarcasm. "I think we can be-"

He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of a ring device being activated, and his hand strayed to his Glock without actually touching it. Beside him, Rodney took a deep breath, but otherwise looked fairly calm. A moment later, the population of the moon was doubled as Frenush arrived with a Jaffa – presumably his first prime – towering beside him, watching both Ian and McKay without a change in his expression.

"You are Korbos?" Frenush asked, not moving toward them.

Ian nodded, but didn't reply. He turned his attention to the Jaffa, who had rightly pegged Ian as the dangerous one of the two and watching him intently, waiting for him to do something stupid. The Jaffa was carrying a staff weapon, and Ian saw his grip tighten just a little on the haft when he noticed Ian watching him.

"Show me the device." Frenush said, looking at McKay since it was obvious that Ian wasn't carrying it.

Rodney looked at Ian, who nodded, and then opened the case without stepping toward the Goa'uld. Since the ZPM didn't look very impressive when it wasn't playing power source, they'd actually installed just a couple of blinking lights inside the case, and the black interior made it look even more impressive. Frenush took half a step forward to get a better look, and McKay closed the case just as the two had discussed. The Goa'uld scowled and looked at Ian, who gave him an unwavering stare.

"You have the payment?"

They had thought long and hard about what kind of payment Ian and McKay should demand for the power source they were offering. Again, it had to be something that would fit in with the role Ian was playing. And it had to be something that Frenush would be able to get hold of. They needed to make it as easy as they could without making it _look_ easy for him. So they'd decided on weapons. The amount demanded was crazy, but that was all going to be part of the negotiations. Negotiations that Ian had no intention of getting into if he could avoid it.

"Perhaps. If I am satisfied that the power source is worth what you are requesting."

"It's worth twice that," Ian told him. "But I'm feeling generous."

Frenush made a noise that Ian couldn't interpret, but the New Yorker looked over at McKay and nodded again. Rodney opened the case once more to allow the Goa'uld a chance to look at the ZPM.

"What will it do?" Frenush asked, stepping over to get a better look at it.

"If you hook it into your weapons system it will increase your output by 1000 percent," Rodney told him, speaking for the first time. "Hook it into your shields and nothing will ever touch you. The others will fall in front of you before they even know what happened."

Rodney's arrogant tone was just right for what he was playing, and the confidence he had in the ZPM came through as well. The best thing, however, was the turn of phrase, because everyone knew that the way to get a Goa'uld's attention was to tell him he was going to be able to kill his enemies. Of course, Rodney knew the Goa'uld well enough to know that and work the angle. Sure enough, Frenush stepped right up to the case, his eyes glued to the ZPM and not paying attention to much else.

"I want-"

Ian coughed, which was the signal that _Cassandra_ had been waiting for. An instant later a beam shot down from nowhere, and the Jaffa bodyguard vanished. Frenush turned, but it was too late. Ian triggered the device in his left hand and the Goa'uld froze. A moment later he had the other device in his right hand and was already snooping through Frenush's mind, looking for the memory that he needed. The other device seemed to know what he was looking for, because he had no trouble finding it, and the moment he realized what he was seeing it was gone, erased as if it had never been there.

"Got it," he said, drawing the device back and then 'watching' as it also destroyed the last two minutes of short-term memory as well. Frenush twitched, shaking his head much like a wet dog will shake itself, and Ian slipped both devices into the fanny pack at his side just as the Jaffa reappeared beside them, rematerialized by the Wraith device that _Cassandra_ had been fitted with.

"I want…" Frenush frowned, his expression confused. Just like that of the Jaffa, who wouldn't remember that he'd been gabbed and held suspended while Ian had done what he needed to do but seemed to know that something had happened. "I want to see it in action."

"We can arrange something," Ian told him. "I'll call you when I have it ready."

"I want it now."

Which was somewhat expected. Goa'uld weren't used being told they have to wait for something they wanted. Ian bit back the automatic response he would normally give someone and shrugged with feigned nonchalance.

"I'm not ready right now, Lord Frenush," he said, deferentially. "I want to impress you, so you can see that this is worth everything I am asking for it. If you give me a few days, you won't be disappointed, I promise."

Frenush hesitated, but he was clearly pleased at the way he'd been addressed, and he stepped back to stand beside his Jaffa once more. The arrogance returned almost immediately, though.

"You have three days to contact me. Otherwise I will take my dealings elsewhere."

Which was designed to be a threat, but couldn't have worked out better for Ian and McKay.

"Thank you."

The Goa'uld nodded curtly to his Jaffa, and a moment later the two of them vanished as the ring device activated. Ian and Rodney stayed where they were, still tense, until they finally heard Hailey tell them that the Goa'uld ship had left the area. Only then did they both take a deep breath.

"Did it work?" Rodney asked.

"As far as I can tell it did."

"Let's get home, then."

"What's the rush?" Ian asked. "He's not coming back."

"It's not _him_," McKay told him, turning and heading unerringly toward the still cloaked Gateship. "These pants are chafing something terrible."


	35. Chapter 35

_**Epilogue**_

It didn't take long for the _Cassandra_ to get them all home, and even less time for Ian and McKay to transfer back over to the Gateship for the trip to the SGC. _Cassandra_ wasn't designed for entering the atmosphere after all. There was a sizable group waiting for them when they entered the debriefing room, with Hailey walking between the two men, looking parade ground perfect when compared to Ian and McKay, who hadn't changed out of their outfits yet, despite McKay wincing outrageously with every step he took.

Sam smiled when they walked in. She hadn't had a chance to see them dressed up and she was glad that they hadn't changed before debriefing. Everyone was in the room, crowding around the table and standing behind it, all of them interested in hearing the story and finding out how things went. Ian took the lead in the debriefing, his excellent memory making him the one to tell the tale – not to mention McKay had a tendency to over exaggerate at times and drone on at other times. The New Yorker told them about the short interaction with Frenush, and how the device had done exactly what it was supposed to – as far as he could tell.

"So it worked?" Shawn asked.

"As near as I could see, yeah. I wouldn't advise dismantling the miniature Guardian program at your house, though."

"Right," McKay said, speaking up. "It doesn't hurt to have it there, and it'll give you peace of mind. When nothing happens in a few years, then you can get it taken down."

"A couple of _years_?" Gina repeated.

"He's kidding, honey," Shawn said, putting his hand over hers. "But we'll keep it up for at least the next six months or so."

"And we'll keep track of Goa'uld traffic in that area and see if there's any indication that Frenush is turning his attentions and energies to other things besides vengeance," Hunt added. "We want to watch him anyways – just to make sure he doesn't cause us any more problems."

"He's not going to be happy when he doesn't heard back from Mr. Korbos about his new toy…" Andrew pointed out.

"That because Mr. _Brooks_ is going to be back on Atlantis," Ian said, his eyes showing his amusement even though he didn't allow a smile to change his expression. "But it doesn't matter, because he doesn't know where to look and he doesn't know what he was trying to buy. He'll get over it."

"It'll give him something to keep him out of trouble," Jack said, not sounding at all upset about that.

"How long until we know for sure it worked?" Gina asked.

Rodney shrugged.

"Unfortunately, we won't know until he doesn't send another team of Ashrak after you. So like I said, it could be years."

"Guardian will keep you safe, Gina," Ian told her. "That's what it's there for."

"Thank you. For everything."

"That's what _we're_ here for," Andrew reminded her.

"Right." Jack stood up, looking at the entire group. It was easy to see that he was pleased with the way things had turned out, but he wasn't going to make a big deal out of it. "Are we done here, then?"

"We are," Ian told him, looking over at Hunt.

"We are, too," the general agreed.

"Then we're going to hitch a ride home really quick from Ian before he heads back to Atlantis."

He had a country to run, after all, and he couldn't very well do it from Cheyenne Mountain. He'd already asked Sam if she wanted to stay and she'd grinned and said no. Of course, she was looking forward to the conversation Jack planned on having with Ian, so she wouldn't have stayed unless there was a good reason for her to. Since she'd already spent time with Shawn and his family, she was ready to go home.

Ian shrugged. As little as he wanted to do any extra flying, he could see why Jack wouldn't want to fly home any other way. He was pretty sure the only people who knew he wasn't in DC just then were the Secret Service, and there was no sense changing that.

"Let's go, then," McKay said. "I need to get changed."

OOOOOOOOOO

"So… do you think it worked?" Jack asked a short time later, as Ian was leveling out the Gateship above the airspace of even the highest commercial flights. They wouldn't be there long, but he didn't really care for breaking the atmosphere for such a short flight. While his passengers all knew that it was because he didn't like the slight tremor that went through the ship when they hit the turbulence on reentry, none of them mentioned it.

"I think so," the New Yorker replied. "But the only way to be sure is to wait and see if Frenush sends any more Ashrak."

"I hate waiting," O'Neill grumbled.

"I know."

"If it doesn't work, the only other option is going to be to get rid of the Goa'uld," McKay said. "You know that, right?"

"Yeah." Jack shrugged. There wasn't anything he could do about that just then. They'd keep Guardian up and see what happened. He cleared his throat. "I had a talk with your wife the other day."

"Cassie?"

Sam arched an eyebrow at him.

"You have another?"

Jack snorted.

"Yes. Cassie."

"About what?"

"Well… she asked me to talk to you about something I said to her once."

"Oh?"

"Yup. So, since I have you pretty much in a spot where you can't wiggle out of the conversation…"

"Why am I suddenly nervous?"

OOOOOOOOOOO

"_Gateship three, welcome home."_

"_Thank you."_

"_Be advised Doctor Brooks is going to be waiting at the Gateship bay."_

"She _better_ be," Ian mumbled. He didn't say it over the communications, though. Instead, he simply looked over at McKay, who was grinning hugely. "I suppose _you_ were in on this?"

"Nope. But it's funny."

Now Ian scowled, but after the Gateship landed and he had tucked it into the berth he saw Cassandra step into the landing bay, and his gaze softened. She saw him and waved, and he acknowledged it with a wave of his own and stood up. He looked at the two yellow lab puppies who were firmly held in Rodney's arms for the trip but were now squirming to get free, as if aware that they'd reached their destination. Ian took one from McKay, and smiled when the little guy licked his cheek excitedly.

"Yeah, yeah… save those shenanigans for someone who will fall for them," he said, cradling the puppy with one arm and shaking its nose with the other, teasing him, cheerfully. It's impossible to be grumpy with a happy lab puppy in your arms, after all. "You okay with that one?"

"Yeah."

"Oh, they're _adorable_!"

Cassandra had come up through the rear of the Gateship, and reached her hands out for the puppy in Ian's arms. He handed it over, and turned and took the one from Rodney.

"_Hey_! I was-"

"You can bring all the supplies."

"But that's-"

"No, the _boys_ can come and get the supplies," Cassie said. "It'll get them in the right frame of mind when it comes to these two. Are they _really_ related to Jaffer?"

Ian nodded.

"According to Monica they are. Their mother is from the same litter as Jasmine."

"That's perfect."

"I thought so, too."

But they were yellow, not black, and that was all to the good as far as Ian was concerned.

She looked carefully at him.

"You aren't angry?"

Ian shook his head.

"As Jack reminded me; every kid should have a dog."

"Even the ones that aren't on Earth?" she asked him, teasing.

"_Especially_ the ones that aren't on Earth."

"Come on," Rodney said, snatching the puppy back from Ian as he walked by him. "This is going to be great."

Cassie smiled, cuddling the one she was holding.

"You're going to be very popular, you know?"

"That's not why I did it."

"Why, then? For _me_?"

Ian shook his head, putting his hand on the puppy's velvet ear.

"No. You would have forgiven me if I'd said no, and the boys never would have known so they wouldn't have been upset."

"Then why?" she repeated.

"Who better to take care of the boys when you and I aren't around to?"

"True."

Not yet, but when they were older – and trained. For now, they were cute and fuzzy, and perfect – even if it wasn't his first choice.

"However…" he said, stopping her and McKay both with a hand. "The boys don't get to name them."

"What? Why not?"

"Because I promised their breeder that they wouldn't end up with names likes _Jell-O_, or _Fuzzy_."

She smiled, looking down at the puppy in her arms.

"Can I name him _Brownie_?"

"Looks like _I'm_ naming both of them."

Cassie snickered.

"Fine, I'll come up with something better."

Maybe.

_**THE END**_

_Author's note: I'm really very sorry about how long this one took to get out. Hopefully you all liked it anyway!_


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